The parapet wall was very low, and caught the turnkey behind the knee as he staggered, tripping him over into the well-mouth.

He gave a bitter cry, and there was a wrench on his face when he knew where he was come, and 'twas then Elzevir caught him by the belt.

For a moment I thought he was saved, seeing Elzevir setting his body low back with heels pressed firm against the parapet wall to stand the strain.

Then the belt gave way at the fastening, and Elzevir fell sprawling on the floor.

But the other went backwards down the well.
I got to the parapet just as he fell head first into that black abyss.
There was a second of silence, then a dreadful noise like a coconut being broken on a pavement--for we once had coconuts in plenty at Moonfleet, when the _Bataviaman_ came on the beach, then a deep echoing blow, where he rebounded and struck the wall again, and last of all, the thud and thundering splash, when he reached the water at the bottom.