o that he could not have been alarmed by Eaton's
leap--the man who had been working moved his torch, and the light fell
upon Eaton.

"Look out!" the man cried in alarm to his companion; with the word the
light of the torch vanished.

The man toward whom Eaton rushed did not have time to switch off his
light; he dropped it instead; and as Eaton sprang for him, he crouched.
Eaton, as he struck forward, found nothing; but below his knees, Eaton
felt a man's powerful arms tackling him; as he struggled to free
himself, a swift, savage lunge lifted him from his feet; he was thrown
and hurled backwards.

Eaton ducked his head forward and struggled to turn, as he went down,
so that a shoulder and not his head or back would strike the floor
first. He succeeded in this, though in his effort he dropped the
jimmy. He clung with his right hand to the pistol, and as he struck
the floor, the pistol shot off; the flash of flame spurted toward the
ceiling. Instantly the grip below his knees was loosed; the man who
had tackled him and hurled him back had recoiled in the darkness.
Eaton got to his feet but crouched and crept about behind a table,
aiming his pistol over it in the direction in which he supposed the
other men must be. The sound of the shot had ceased to roar through
the room; the gases from the powder only made the air heavier. The
other two men in the room also waited, invisible and silent. The only
light, in the great curtained room, came from the single electric torch
lying on the floor. This lighted the legs of a chair, a corner of a
desk and a circle of books in the cases on the wall. As Eaton's eyes
became more accustomed to the darkness, he could see vague shapes of
furniture. If a man moved, he might be made out; but if he stayed
still, probably he would remain indistinguishable.

The other men seemed also to have recognized this; no one moved in the
room, and there was complete silence.

Eaton knelt on one knee behind his table; now he was wildly, exultantly
excited; his blood leaped hotly to his hand pointing his pistol; he
panted, almost audibly, for breath, but though his pulse throbbed
through his head too, his mind was clear and cool as he reckoned his
situation and his chances. He had crossed the Pacific, the Continent,
he had schemed and risked everything with the mere hope of getting into
this room to discover evidence with which to demand from the world
righting of the wrong which had driven