four intended victims allowed themselves to
be inveigled into the lounge. Everything was peaceful; everyone was full
of friendship and brotherly love. But suddenly "BRAHMS!" rang out, with
four voices in absolute unison; followed a moment later by Lopresto's
stentorian "NOW!"

It was a very good thing that Deston had had ample warning, for he was
indeed competing out of his class. As it was, his bullet crashed through
Blaine's head, while the gunman's went harmlessly into the carpet. The
other pistol duel wasn't even close! Lopresto's hand barely touched his
gun.

Bernice, even while shrieking the battle-cry, leaped to her feet, hurled
her chair, and reached for another; but one chair was enough. That
fiercely but accurately-sped missile knocked the half-drawn pistol from
Newman's hand and sent his body crashing to the floor, where Deston's
second bullet made it certain that he would not recover consciousness.

Barbara's hand-to-hand engagement took about one second longer. Moose
Mordan was big and strong; and, for such a big man, was fairly fast
physically. If he had had time to get his muscles ready, he might have
had a chance. His thought processes, however, were lamentably slow; and
Barbara Warner Deston was almost as fast physically as she was mentally.
Thus she reached him before he even began to realize that this
pint-sized girl actually intended to hit him; and thus it was that his
belly-muscles were still completely relaxed when her small but extremely
hard left fist sank half-forearm-deep into his solar plexus.

With an agonized "_WHOOSH_!" he began to double up, but she scarcely
allowed him to bend. Her right hand, fingers tightly bunched, was
already boring savagely into a selected spot at the base of his neck.
Then, left hand at his throat and right hand pulling hard at his belt,
she put the totalized and concentrated power of her whole body behind
the knee she drove into his groin.

That ended it. The big man could very well have been dying on his feet.
To make sure, however--or to keep the girl from knowing that she had
killed a man?--Deston and Jones each put a bullet through the falling
head before it struck the rug.

Both girls flung themselves, sobbing, into their husband's arms.

The whole battle had lasted only a few seconds. Adams, although he had
seen almost everything, had been concentrating so deeply that it took
those few seconds for him actually to realize what was going on. He got
up