The Hope pioneer. [volume] (Hope, N.D.) 1882-1964, 1913-03-06
XXI.
When tho Doors Parted

What Immediately followed must
have occupied a second or two at
most. Yet it seemed to me that for
many minutes l sat mute and motion
less. starting at the leveled weapon
and at the rude black mask behind it:
for my brain was superactiva and my
thoughts were racing.
Instantly l comprehended all that
had happened, and the situation, eli
making in our peril, was as clear to
me as though I had witnessed the
whole chain Of events from inception
to final execution. The assassination
OF Ling Fo was to be succeeded by the
abduction, perhaps the murder, Of Eve
Ign and myself. Already while we
were conversing with Miss Clement
our driver had been spirited from the
box and one of the enemy mounted in
his place. In the rush Of my review
] recalled that In hurrying Evelyn into
the brougham. anxious to be started
and away, I had not cast even so much
RS a glance towards the man in front.
AT first, In u absorption. and later
behind lowered silken shades, we had
made no effort to trace our course.
Hence our present location was mad
deningly unguessable. We might be
far OF the East side or far on the
West, or we might merely have circled
back to within a block or less of the
Mission from which we started.
All this, I say, flashed through my
brain with inconceivable swiftness as
l sat rigid, with eyes on the revolver
barrel and the masked face of the
shadowy, sinister creature that held it.
All this. and more. For in that brief
space I { considered one possible course
Of action after another, cropping des.
perately for a plan of rescue and es-
cape.
In that passing second or two there
had been no sound-no word from him
at the door; no whisper even from her
at my side, who, like myself, sat dumb
and inert, stricken to stone by the sud-
denness Of the attack. But for a Sec
ond or two only this silence and in
ertia lasted.
That which ensued was coincident.
As though the step had been prear-
ranged. the three actors moved in con
cert. The hand which held the weap.
on advanced a dozen inches or more.
Spontaneously my foot, lifted with all
the accuracy and power of my UNDER
graduate football days, met the intrud-
Ing revolver and sent it spinning
agatnst, the vehicles upholstered top.
Simultaneously, Evelyn screamed. And
even as her voice rang out, high and
shrill; even as that lethal object Of
ch~ill-hardened steel spun upward, the
light was switched suddenly off and
We were In grumous darkness.
1t was she who, pressing the button
at her side, had dropped over us this
mantle Of invisibility no less obscur.
ing than the tabled Hell Keplein; and
1t, was she. too, who now opened the
other door Of the brougham, and with
a murmured: Come! Hurry" drew
me after her into the dread uncertain
ty of an environment Of which we
knew nothing.
The gloom without was scarcely less
thick than that within. Or my FIVE
senses. therefore, all keenly alert, that
or sight told me nothing; but my ears
Gpd nostrils, aided and abetted by
my perception of sodden planking be-
meath my feet, Informed me that we
had alighted in a stable. The sound
of pounding hoofs echoed from near
by stalls and unmistakable equine
odors r strongly p~ervasive.
Upon my hearing there fell, too, as
we fed, the high-pitched nasal cackle
of excited and perplexed celestials,
whose eyes,, dazzled by the brougham's
lamps. failed to follow us into that OBJ
security which lay in the wake Of the
conveyance. and through which, hand
in hand. Evelyn and l crept crouch
ingly toward the street, our hearts
hammering but u breathing smoth.
cred lest it betray our whereabouts
and precipitate pursuit.
II in u fond fancy we expected
an unimpeded way, however, our ex-
pectations were not realized. Where
the darkness was delsest there rose
an obstruction. From out of the black
e pair Of arms encircled me-a pair Of