figure passed through the lighted doorway.

There followed an interval of waiting that seemed interminable--an
interval during which Burke moved not at all, but stood like a
statue against the wall, his hat well down over his eyes, his hands
clenched at his sides. The voices of men drifted to and fro
through the howling night, but none came very near him.

It must have been nearly half-an-hour later that there arose a
sudden fierce uproar in the bar, and the silent watcher
straightened himself up sharply. The turmoil grew to a babel of
voices, and in a few moments two figures, struggling furiously,
appeared at the open door. They blundered out, locked together
like fighting beasts, and behind them the door crashed to, leaving
them in darkness.

Burke moved forward. "Kelly, is that you?"

Kelly's voice, uplifted in lurid anathema, answered him, and in a
couple of seconds Kelly himself lurched into him, nearly hurling
him backwards. "And is it yourself?" cried the Irishman. "Then
help me to hold the damned young scoundrel, for he's fighting like
the devils in hell! Here he is! Get hold of him!"

Burke took a silent hard grip upon the figure suddenly thrust at
him, and almost immediately the fighting ceased.

"Let me go!" a hoarse voice said.

"Hold him tight!" said Kelly. "I'm going to take a rest. Guy, you
young devil, what do you want to murder me for? I've never done
you a harm in my life."

The man in Burke's grasp said nothing whatever. He was breathing
heavily, but his resistance was over. He stood absolutely passive
in the other man's hold.

Kelly gave himself an indignant shake and continued his tirade. "I
call all the saints in heaven to witness that as sure as my name is
Donovan Kelly so sure is it that I'll be damned to the last most
nether millstone before ever I'll undertake to dig a man out of
Hoffstein's marble halls again. You'd better watch him, Burke.
His skin is about as full as it'll hold."

"We'll get back," said Burke briefly.

He was holding his captive locked in a scientific grip, but there
was no violence about him. Only, as he turned, the other turned
also, as if compelled. Kelly followed, cursing himself back to
amiability.

Back through the raging wind they went, as though pursued by
furies. They reached and entered the hotel just as the Kaffir
porter was closing for the night. He stared with bulging eyes at
Burke and his companion, but Burke walked straight