The word of command was given, and the victims were dragged up the massive steps that led to the upper edge of the burning pit.  In this the volunteers showed more than an ordinary degree of patriotism.  The Hebrews were laid side by side, ready for their awful doom.  The stout hearts of the soldiers were touched with pity as they gazed on the noble forms of their victims, of whom they had never heard aught but good; and they felt loath to perform the awful deed.  But not so the patriotic sons of Skerbood.

“Why not throw the guilty rebels in?” cried Shagoth, with an air of importance.

“As ye appear to take far more pleasure in this transaction than we do, we are very willing to bestow the honor of throwing them in on yourselves.  So proceed with your delightful performance,” said an officer, at the same time giving way, while his companions followed him some two or three steps downward.

“With all pleasure!” answered Scribbo, while, with fiendish eagerness, they both turned to perform the foul deed.  With a firm grasp they first laid hold on Azariah, and he was thrown into the midst of the flames.  The same was done to Mishael; and, finally, as Hananiah dropped to the burning depth below, the ascending flames became doubly fierce; at the same moment the wind shifted and became strong, and, as sudden as a flash of lightning, the flames poured their awful vengeance on the guilty heads of Scribbo and Shagoth.  For a moment they whirled in the midst of God’s avenging scourges, crying loudly for help; but no help could be administered!  In another instant they became bewildered, and soon their blackened forms fell on the edge of the furnace, where a few moments before had lain the sons of Judah!

The king had not accompanied the prisoners to the fatal spot, but continued, in a surly mood, to sit on his elevated throne.  He was far from being satisfied, and he inwardly regretted his severity toward the best of his officers.

The furnace was a roofless inclosure, twenty feet square, built of very thick walls in solid masonry.  At the height of about twenty-five feet from the ground, on the inside, there were ponderous bars of iron, which were made to cross each other at right angles, and which fastened in the walls, forming the bottom of the furnace into which the victims were thrown from above.  Below, in different parts, were appropriate places for fagots and light combustibles wherewith to heat the furnace.  To the lower story there were eight doors or openings, two on each square, through which easy access was obtained to the fireplaces.  On the outside there was but one entrance to the top.  This was by means of massive stone steps.  The depth from the edge of the furnace to the crossbars below was fifteen feet, making the whole height, from the ground, forty feet.  From above also, there were steps to descend into the bottom.  To spectators, on the ground, the victims were not visible after they had been thrown over the edge.