had erased the pencil marks
with indiarubber. If anything could emphasise the value of his
discovery surely it was this and Harrison Smith fairly tingled with
excitement. He picked up a magnifying glass and closely examined the
erasement. There had been a line drawn round the village and on the
outskirts, where three cottages clustered together, was the impression
of a single dot. At roughly a mile inland from the village where a
footpath converged with the road was another dot, seemingly situated in
the middle of a clump of trees.

Harrison Smith was satisfied. He hastily dropped the book into his
pocket, restored its fellows to their former position on the shelves
and tiptoed across the room to extinguish the light. Thus far Fortune
had favoured him, but she is a capricious lady wont to change her
allegiance with startling suddenness. If there had been a length of
yellow flex to the electric standard the accident would never have
happened. It is simply asking for trouble to use red flex on a red
carpet. Harrison Smith's foot tangled in the wire and down came the
table lamp with a crash. Simultaneously there came a shout from
another part of the flat. For a second Harrison Smith stood spellbound
at the disaster he had caused--robbed of the power of action.

It was the sound of bare feet pattering on the parquet of the hall that
restored his senses and as the door of the room flew open he stamped on
the still burning electric bulb lying at his feet. The detonation as
it flew into fragments came simultaneously with the sharp, stinging
report of a small calibre pistol. The room was plunged into utter
darkness in which could be heard the sound of two men breathing and the
zinging of the mantelpiece brasses from the double explosion. Then
silence--no movement--and the mind of Harrison Smith worked like a
streak of lightning. His hand was on the back of a heavy arm chair and
the touch of it suggested an idea.

He gave a thin, whispering sigh and cried out in a high pitched voice.

"My God! You've killed me!"

Then he tilted back the arm chair and allowed it to fall with a soft
thud to the floor.

Another silence, then the sound of a man moving forward. Harrison
Smith side stepped and, keeping in touch with the wall, navigated
through the darkness toward the door.

"Serve you damn well right," said Doran in a voice that was startlingly
near.

Harrison Smith's luck had returned. He found the door an