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Page 26
The idea was taking shape. From the loggia and the avenue Bristol,
I reasoned, must be clearly visible. From the shrubbery on the
south, through the other windows could I be seen? Yes, silhouetted
against the moonlight!
A faint sound, quite indescribable, came to my ears from somewhere
outside-beyond.
"My God!" whispered Bristol. "Did you hear it?"
"Yes! What?"
"It must have been Morris!--"
Bristol was half standing, one hand upon the arm of the chair, the
other concealed, but grasping his revolver as I well knew. I, too,
had my revolver in my hand, and as I twisted in my seat, preparatory
to rising, in sheer nervousness I dropped the weapon upon the
carpet.
With an exclamation of dismay, I stooped quickly to recover it.
As I did so something whistled past my ear, so closely as almost to
touch it-and struck with a dull thud upon the wall beyond!
"Bristol!" I whispered.
But as I raised my eyes to him he seemed to crumple up, and fell
loosely forward into the patch of moonlight spread upon the floor!
"God in heaven!" I said aloud.
In a cold sweat of fear I crouched there, for it had become evident
to me that, as I bent, I was entirely in shadow.
There was a rustling in the bushes on the left; but before I could
turn in that direction, my attention was claimed elsewhere. Over
into the loggia leapt an almost naked brown figure!
It was that of a small but strongly built man, who carried a short,
exceedingly thick bamboo rod in his hand. My fear was too great to
admit of my accurately observing anything at that time, but I
noticed that some kind of leather thong or loop was attached to the
end of the squat cane.
The panic fear of the supernatural was strongly upon me, and I was
unable to realize that this Eastern apparition was a creature of
flesh and blood. With my nerves strung up to snapping point, I
crouched watching him. He entered the room, bending over the body
of Bristol.
A hot breath fanned my cheek!
At that my overwrought nerves betrayed me. I uttered a stifled cry,
looking upward . . . and into a pair of gleaming eyes which looked
down into mine!
A second brown man (who must have entered by one of the windows
overlooking the shrubbery) was bending over me!
Scarce knowing what I did, I raised my revolver and blazed straight
into the dimly-seen face. Down upon me silently dropped a naked
body, and something warm came flowing over my hand. But, knowing my
foes to be of flesh and blood, feeling myself at handgrips now with
a palpable enemy, I threw off the body, leapt up and fired, though
blindly, at the flying shape that flashed across the loggia--and
was lost in the shadow pools under the elms.
Upon the din of my shooting fell silence like a cloak. A moment I
listened, tense, still; then I turned to the table and lighted the
lamp.
In its light I saw Bristol lying like a dead man. Close beside him
was a big and heavy lump of clay. It had been shaped as a ball,
but now it was flattened out curiously. Bending over my unfortunate
companion and learning that, though unconscious, he lived, I learnt,
too, how the Hashishin contrived to strike men insensible without
approaching them; I learnt that the one whom I had shot, who lay in
his blood almost on the spot where Professor Deeping once had lain,
was an expert slinger.
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