bandaging.

"We _mus_' have _docteur_!" complained he, mindful of Jamieson, far
away, busy with cases as bad as this.

For half an hour or so Josephine remained in her own room above,
having done all she could to establish some sort of order. All at
once to her strained senses there seemed to flash some apprehension
of a coming danger. She rose, tiptoed to her door, looked down. A
moment later she turned, and caught up an old pistol which hung on
the wall near the door in the narrow hallway. Silently and swiftly
she stepped forward to the head of the stair.

What she saw now was this: Carlisle and Kammerer, themselves now
armed with weapons carelessly left in the lower hall, had passed
unnoticed from the dining-room, and now were tiptoeing down the
hall toward the door of Dunwody's apartment. Clayton and his men,
dulled with loss of sleep, had allowed them to leave the main room,
and these two, soldiers by training, had resolved to turn the
tables and take possession of the place. Their plans were at the
point of success. They had almost reached the door of Dunwody's
room, weapons in hand, when from above they heard a sharp command.

"Halt, there!" a woman cried to them.

They turned and looked up, arrested by the unmistakable quality in
the tones. They saw her leaning against the baluster of the stair,
one arm bound tightly to her side, the other resting a revolver
barrel along the baluster and glancing down it with a fearless eye.
She took a step or two lower down the stair, sliding the weapon
with her. "What are you doing there?" she demanded.

A half-humorous twist came to the mouth of Carlisle. He answered
quietly, as he raised a hand for silence:

"Just about what you might expect us to do. We're trying to take
care of ourselves. But how about yourself? I thought you were
with us, Madam. I had heard that you--"

"Come," she answered, lowering the weapon and stepping swiftly down
the stairs. "Come outside, where we can talk."

The three now passed out the open front door to the wide gallery,
which lay in the dim twilight untenanted. Kammerer kept his eyes
still on the muzzle of the revolver. Carlisle laughed. "That's
right, Kammerer," said he. "Be careful when a woman gets the drop
on you. She'll shoot quicker than a man, because she doesn't know
any better. I don't doubt you had a reason for stopping us,
Madam," said he; "but what?--that puzzles me."

"How came you here?" she dema