nother
instant my retreat would be cut off. As I burst once more into the
darkened room I became aware that a door on the farther side of it was
open; and framed in the opening was the tall high-shouldered figure of
the Chinaman, still enveloped in his fur coat and wearing the
grotesque cap. As I saw him, so he perceived me; and as I sprang to
the window, he advanced.

I turned desperately and hurled the bunch of keys with all my force
into the dimly seen face....

Either because they possessed a chatoyant quality of their own (as I
had often suspected), or by reason of the light reflected through the
open window, the green eyes gleamed upon me vividly like those of a
giant cat. One short guttural exclamation paid tribute to the accuracy
of my aim; then I had the crossbar in my hand.

I threw one leg across the sill, and dire as was my extremity,
hesitated for an instant ere trusting myself to the flight....

A vice-like grip fastened upon my left ankle.

Hazily I became aware that the dark room was become flooded with
figures. The whole yellow gang were upon me--the entire murder-group
composed of units recruited from the darkest places of the East!

I have never counted myself a man of resource, and have always envied
Nayland Smith his possession of that quality, in him extraordinarily
developed; but on this occasion the gods were kind to me, and I
resorted to the only device, perhaps, which could have saved me.
Without releasing my hold upon the crossbar, I clutched at the ledge
with the fingers of both hands and swung back, into the room, my
right leg, which was already across the sill. With all my strength I
kicked out. My heel came in contact, in sickening contact, with a
human head; beyond doubt I had split the skull of the man who held me.

The grip upon my ankle was released automatically; and now consigning
all my weight to the rope, I slipped forward, as a diver, across the
broad ledge and found myself sweeping through the night like a winged
thing....

The line, as Karamaneh had assured me, was of well-judged length. Down
I swept to within six or seven feet of the street level, then up, up,
at ever-decreasing speed, toward the vague oblong of the open window
beyond.

I hope I have been successful, in some measure, in portraying the
varied emotions which it was my lot to experience that night, and it
may well seem that nothing more exquisite could remain for me. Yet it
was written otherwise; for a