s infernally clever spying. Only a month
before I had him in my clutches; saw the very rope around his neck.
But he had slipped away, and left me empty-handed and kicking myself
for an ass.

I held my breath as I felt those gimlet eyes of his boring into me.
Would he sense who I was? Surely he could hear the pounding of my
heart. How long he stood there I don't know. It seemed like hours. I
tautened, waiting for him to call out, determined to sell my life as
dearly as I could.

But for once the Ferret was fooled. He turned away. "Take us into your
kitchen," he snapped at the nurse, then there was the tramping of feet
and the slamming of a door.

* * * * *

The breath whistled from me in relief. I turned cautiously. I was
alone. Now was my chance. I jumped from the bed and started toward the
window. Once out, I'd find some place to hide. I let my face relax;
there was no use for that particular disguise any longer. The window
was up. I was on the sill. Another second and I'd be out in the open.

"Just where do you think you're going?" came the Ferret's silky, cruel
voice. I whirled. There he was, just inside the door. His little black
eyes glinted dangerously over his hooked nose and sharp chin.

"Oh--Bolton! Something made me turn back. Glad to see you."

His hand flashed to the ray-tube in his belt. At the same moment I
left the window sill in a desperate leap. Clear across the room I
sprang, and before he had time to pull his weapon I had one hand
clamped around his wrist, the other clutching his throat. We crashed
to the ground.

I was in pyjamas, barefooted, he fully clothed. His leather shoes
drove into me viciously, even as his face turned purple. The pain was
excruciating, but I dared not cry out. His left thumb found my eye,
was digging in.

The crash of our fall must have been heard outside; another moment and
all would be lost. I was momentarily on top as we rolled across the
floor. With a supreme effort I pulled his head away from the floor,
then crashed it down. He slumped; lay still.

The door knob was turning as I jumped frantically through the window.
I heard a cry behind me. Rough, uneven ground. No one about. To my
right was a rocky cliff, and at its base what looked like the mouth of
a cave. Any port in a storm: I dived into it.

It was a cave, all right, or rather a narrow tunnel winding some
distance into the cliff. I ran back at top speed, till I crashed