h a crash, he rolled upon the floor. The candle,
falling, extinguished itself promptly, and we were left standing in a
hall as black as ink.

Simultaneously with the blow I had struck there came a spit of flame
from the staircase, a sharp crack, and as I ducked hastily a bullet
spurted past me, within three inches of my head. Miss Falconer was
beside me. Together we retreated, while a second shot, which this time
went wide, struck the wall beyond us and proved that Schwartzmann,
though handicapped, was not giving up the fight.

So far things had gone better than I had dared to think was possible.
Now, however, they took a sudden and most unwelcome turn. One of the men
by the chimney-place must have wasted no time in leaping for me; for
at this instant, quite without warning, he catapulted on me through the
darkness with the force of a battering-ram.

The table, which I still held clutched with a view to emergencies, broke
the force of his onslaught. He reeled, stumbled, and collapsed on his
knees. However, he was lacking neither in Teutonic efficiency nor in
resource. Putting out a prompt hand, he seized my ankle and jerked my
foot from under me; the table dropped from my grasp with a splintering
uproar, and I fell.

Before I could recover myself my enemy had rolled on top of me, and I
felt his fingers at my throat as he clamored in German for a light. He
was a heavy man; his bulk was paralyzing; but I stiffened every muscle.
With a mighty heave I turned half over, rose on my elbow, and delivered
a blow at what, I fondly hoped, might prove the point of his chin.

Dark as it was, I had made no miscalculation. He dropped on me once
again, but this time as an inert mass. Burrowing out from under him, I
sprang to my feet aglow with triumph--and found myself in the clutch
of the second gentleman from the chimney-place, who apparently had come
hotfoot to his comrade's aid.

I was fairly caught. His arms went round me like steel girders,
pinioning mine to my sides before I knew what he was about. In sheer
desperation I summoned all the strength I possessed and a little more.
Ah! I had wrenched my right arm loose; now we should see! I raised it
and managed, despite the close quarters at which we were contending, to
plant a series of crashing blows on my adversary's face.

The fellow, I must say, bore up pluckily beneath the punishment. He hung
on. There would be a light in a moment, he was doubtless thinking, and
when o