You shall be your own executioner, and
this miserable office shall pass away from my hands."
Ishmael proceeded to put his new resolution in force. The immediate
apprehensions of the kidnapper were quieted, by an assurance that he
might yet live for days, though his punishment was inevitable. A
reprieve, to one abject and wretched as Abiram, temporarily produced
the same effects as a pardon. He was even foremost in assisting in the
appalling arrangements, and of all the actors, in that solemn tragedy,
his voice alone was facetious and jocular.
A thin shelf of the rock projected beneath one of the ragged arms of
the willow. It was many feet from the ground, and admirably adapted to
the purpose which, in fact, its appearance had suggested. On this
little platform the criminal was placed, his arms bound at the elbows
behind his back, beyond the possibility of liberation, with a proper
cord leading from his neck to the limb of the tree. The latter was so
placed, that when suspended the body could find no foot-hold.
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