able appearance the
same severity confronted him. There was neither washstand nor dressing
table, chair nor picture. Nothing to read, nothing to look at. The
windows were shuttered and, as in the other room, a single light point
was the only illumination. High up above the bed was the mouthpiece of
what looked like a motor horn. This and an iron ventilating register
let into the wall a couple of feet away from the pillow were the only
objects that provided any variety in the way of decoration.

The atmosphere of the place, though chilly, had a distinct sense of
oppression. There was no vitality in the air--it breathed mossy and
damp.

"Do with an open window," said Richard and moved toward the shutters.
He had hardly covered half the distance when the lights went out with
startling suddenness. There was something distinctly eerie in the
absolute darkness in which he found himself. He stretched out a hand
and felt for the nearest wall like a blind man, groped his way to the
door and opened it. But the other room was also in pitchy blackness.

"Fuse gone somewhere," he conjectured. "May as well try and get to a
chair and wait till the lights come on."

Roughly memorising the position of the furniture he made for the centre
of the room with hands extended. The effort was a failure and brought
him to the opposing wall. Accordingly he turned and tried again on a
slightly altered course. He had hardly taken three steps when he
received a shock. His left hand touched something rough but soft.
There was a sense of warmth about it but no movement. Richard started
violently and caught his breath.

"What's that?" he cried.

But there was no answer.

Standing very still he listened. The house was deathly silent and he
could almost hear the pulsing of his heart. Then very faintly he
became aware of another sound--the gentle hiss of a man breathing.

"Now we know where we are," thought Richard bracing himself up.
"Sneaked in while I was looking at the bedroom, I suppose. Not going
to let those idiots frighten me with bogey tricks."

As quietly as possible he went down on all fours and ran his fingers
across the floor boards in a semi-circle. They had not travelled very
far before encountering the hard edge of a boot sole. That was good
enough for Richard. Judging the distance nicely he seized its owner's
ankle in an iron grip and springing to his feet lifted it high into the
air and flung it backward.