At last, late in the day, they heard a bellowing, low and faint as though far away. They listened and soon heard it again, a lit
tle louder and very fierce and dreadful. "It is he! it is he!" cried Theseus; "and now for the fight!" Then he shouted, so loudly that the walls of the Labyrinth answered back, and the sound was carried upward to the sky and outward to the rocks and cliffs of the mountains. The Minotaur heard him, and his bellowings grew louder and fiercer every moment. "He is coming!" cried Theseus, and he ran forward to meet the beast. The seven maidens shrieked, but tried to stand up bravely and face their fate; and the six young men stood together with firm-set teeth and clinched fists, ready to fight to the last. Soon the Minotaur came into view, rushing down the passage towards Theseus, and roaring most terribly. He was twice as tall as a man, and his head was like that of a bull with huge sharp horns and fiery eyes and a mouth as large as a lion's; but the young men could not see the lower part of his body for the cloud of dust which he raised in running. When he saw Theseus with the sword in his hand coming to meet him, he paused, for no one had ever faced him in that way before. Then he put his head down, and rushed forward, bellowing. But Theseus leaped quickly aside, and made a sharp thrust with his sword as he passed, and hewed off one of the monster's legs above the knee. –“The Cruel Tribute,” James Baldwin Explain how the author creates the suspenseful moment when the Minotaur arrives. Use the passage if you need to review the story’s climax
James Baldwin speeds up the action to create suspense for the reader. By moving the action forward so quickly, the author leaves the reader anxious to discover if Theseus saves himself and the other characters from the Minotaur.
