nger.

They fought in silence now. They did not waste precious breath on
shouts or curses. There were no pistol shots, no warnings; only the
sound of troubled breathing against the shock of their bodies as they
reeled against the walls. Bill was fighting with all his might to keep
his feet.

But the tower that was his body fell at last. All three staggered,
reeled, then crashed to the floor. Pete had managed to wiggle from
underneath and, his hold yet unbroken, struggled at Bill's left side;
Harold was on top. But for all that he lay prone, Bill was not conquered
yet. With his flailing arms he knocked aside the vicious blows that
Harold aimed at his face; he tore Pete's grasp from his throat. He
fought with a final, incredible might. And now he was breaking their
holds to climb once more upon his feet.

Then--above the sound of their writhing bodies--Virginia heard Pete
exclaim. It was a savage, a murderous sound, and anew degree of terror
swept through her. But she didn't cry out. She had her own plans.

"Hold him--just one instant!" Pete cried. The breed had remembered
his knife. It was curious that he hadn't thought of it before.

He took it rather carefully from his holster. The two men were
threshing on the floor by now, Harold in a desperate effort to keep his
enemy down, and there was plenty of time. Pete's hand fumbled in his
pocket. In his cunning and his savagery he realized that the supreme
opportunity for victory was at hand; but he must take infinite pains.

He didn't want to run the risk of slaying his own confederate. His hand
found a match; he raised his knife high. The match cracked, then flamed
in the darkness.

But it was not to be that that murderous blow should go home. He had
forgotten Bill's lone ally,--the girl that had seemed so crushed and
helpless a few minutes before. She had not remained in the safe corner
where Bill had thrust her, and she had had good reasons. The price that
she paid was high, but it didn't matter now. She had crawled out to
find her pistol that Joe's hand had let fall, and just before Pete had
lighted his match her hand had encountered it on the floor.

It seemed to leap in her hand as the match flamed. It described a blue
arc; then rested, utterly motionless, for a fraction of an instant. For
that same little time all her nervous forces rallied to her aid; her
eyes were remorseless and true over the sights.

The pistol shot rang in the s