ng who she was; then he knew.

His first impulse was to leap across the room towards her. He thought of
the chemicals and instinctively his hand went to his armpit. But he knew
there was no time for that. He hesitated one brief instant. As he stood
rigid Targo stooped swiftly and grasped the dagger in his victim's
breast.

The girl screamed again, louder this time, and like a mask the Very
Young Man's indecision fell from him. He stood alert, clear-headed. Here
was an enemy threatening him--an enemy he must fight and overcome.

In the second that Targo bent down the Very Young Man bounded forward,
and with a leap that his football days had taught him so well how to
make, he landed squarely upon the bare, broad back of his antagonist.
The impact of his weight forced Targo down upon the floor, and losing
his balance he fell, with the Very Young Man on top of him. They hit the
leg of the table as they rolled over, and something dropped from it to
the floor, striking the stone surface with a thud.

The knife still stuck in the dead man's body. The Very Young Man thought
he could reach it, but his opponent's great arms were around him now and
held him too tightly. He tried to pull himself loose, but could not.
Then he rolled partly over again, and met Targo's eyes above, leering
triumphantly down at him. He looked away and wrenched his right arm
free. Across the room he could see the girl still crouching in the
corner. His right hand sweeping along the floor struck something heavy
lying there. His fingers closed over it; he raised it up, and hardly
knowing what he did, crashed it against his enemy's head.

He felt the tense muscles of the man relax, and then the weight of his
inert body as it pressed down upon him. He wriggled free, and sprang to
his feet. As he stood weak and trembling, looking down at the
unconscious form of Targo lying upon the floor, the girl suddenly ran
over and stood beside him. Her slim little body came only a little above
his shoulder; instinctively he put his arm about her.

A voice, calling from outside the room, made the girl look up into his
face with new terror.

"Others are coming," she whispered tensely and huddled up against him.

The Very Young Man saw that the room had two doors--the one through
which he had entered, and another in one of its other walls. There were
no windows. He pulled the girl now towards the further door, but she
held him back.

"They come that way," she whis