Still manfully battling with his opponents, Nick tried to eject the
object, opening his jaws wider in the effort.
The object, which was shaped like a solid pear, instantly expanded, and
Nick could not close his jaws.
Again he tried, opening them still wider, and again the pear-shaped
object expanded and held them rigid.
Then Nick guessed the truth.
While struggling with might and main to beat these ruffians, he had been
made the victim of an infernal instrument but seldom seen in these days,
and one of the most agonizing and diabolical devices of man's perverted
ingenuity.
The object in Nick's mouth was a "choke pear!"
This vicious instrument of torture dates back to the time of Palioly,
the notorious French robber and renegade, when it was very worthily
called "the pear of anguish."
It consists of a solid gag, so to speak, yet it is so constructed, with
interior springs, that, once thrust into a person's mouth, it expands as
fast as the mouth is opened, and rigidly distends the victim's jaws.
The more widely the victim gapes to eject the "choke pear," or to cry
out for aid, the larger the hideous object becomes, until torture,
suffocation and death speedily ensue.
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