The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1916-09-20
Continued from Yesterday
CHAPTER v.
The House of Secret Agents.


WINS heart beat so that the blood
In his throat seemed choking
Cd him. His hands We're cold and
wet, but steady There was no
light at all inside the doors before
which he had halted, but now he had
come to an office where some one WAS
working. There was the barest sound
Of movement and low light. Some
closely shaded desk light probably
gave the faintest glimmer through the
frosted pane of the door. jim no
sooner discerned this than his finger
tried the doorknob. Finding the door
locked, he struck instantly with the
butt of the revolver. smashing hole
through the glass. He struck again,
smashing the hole larger. and thrust
his arm in, turned the knob on the
inside, jerked his arm out. kicked the
door open and sprang within and
crouched with revolver ready.
Between his first smash of the glass
and before he made the hole larger
light had glowed through on his hand.
If he had not been sure of that he
now might have believed he had bro
ken into an empty room. 1t was alb
solutely black and silent. Curtains
pulled close over the windows shut
out all but a feeble reflection of light
from the street, and there was no
sound of any sort in the room or in
the building. The noise of footsteps
following up the stairs had ceased.
The man in the hall either had halted
at hearing the attack on the door or
else was creeping, as Jim himself had
crcpt, silently down the corridor.
A flash of flame almost in his face.
so close that the powder stung ON his
cheeks and the fumes choked him
flung him back off his balance He
fired back-tl1at is. his finger jefked
on the trigger AMI his revolver roared
after the other, but the bullet could
have found no mark He recovered
himself, crouched fired again lindly
or only in the general direction of the
fame which had burst at him. The
flash of the other revolver spurted
again, but it did not stun him SO much
this time. 1t was something else
striking him a second or SO after the
shot-something which bruised and
stupefied him with it's first shock, with
its next knocked him down, and with
it's third blank.
He was lying face downward upon
some sort of leather couch when he
became conscious again. There was a
tremendous pain in his head, and
when he tried to move his hands he
discovered that they were tied to-
gether and bound to his body. These
discoveries brought him sufficient
memory of the struggle and gave him
such realization of his present condi
ton that he made no move after the
first, which told him that he was Sc
curely bound. He made no outcry,
and after his first look at the black
leather couch upon which he lay he
closed his eyes again and lay as inert
ly as possible
The smell of strong tobacco, Of the
sort smoked in a pipe. was the first
sensation which gave him knowledge
of his surroundings The smoke was
thicker at elle moment than al an
other and thus told Jim that the
smoker was then III the room. He was
sitting-or standing still. for,
though jim listened intently. he heard
no sound but the puff at the pipe. The
denseness OF the smoke indicated that
the room was small. and as Jim ven
tnred to peer above the edge of the
couch he discovered that to be the
fact.
Before he observed these details
Jim had supposed that he was a pris-
oner i'll the Office into which he had
broken or elsewhere in the office build
ing-perhaps in some basement room
Now he recognized that he must have