oman in horror and dismay. Then dull, heavy blows; oaths,
curses, stifled exclamations; a fall that shook the windows; Gleason's
voice commanding, entreating; a shrill Chinese jabber; a rush through
the hall; more blows; gasps; curses; more unavailing orders in Gleason's
well-known voice; then a sudden pistol shot, a scream of "Oh, my God!"
then moans, and then silence. The casement on the second floor was
thrown open, and a fair young face and form were outlined upon the
bright light within; a girlish voice called, imploringly,--

"Harry! Harry! Oh, help, if you are there! They are killing father!"

But at the first sound Harry Baker had sprung from my side and
disappeared in the darkness.

"We are friends," I shouted to her,--"Harry Baker's friends. He has gone
round to the rear entrance." Then I made a dash for the front door,
shaking, kicking, and hammering with all my might. I had no idea how to
find the rear entrance in the darkness. Presently it was opened by the
still chattering, jabbering Chinaman, his face pasty with terror and
excitement, and the sight that met my eyes was one not soon to be
forgotten.

A broad hall opened straight before me, with a stairway leading to the
second floor. A lamp with burnished reflector was burning brightly
midway down its length. Another just like it fully lighted a big room to
my left,--the dining-room, evidently,--on the floor of which, surrounded
by overturned chairs, was lying a woman in a deathlike swoon. Indeed, I
thought at first she was dead. In the room to my right, only dimly
lighted, a tall man in shirt-sleeves was slowly crawling to a sofa,
unsteadily assisted by Gleason; and as I stepped inside, Corporal Potts,
who was leaning against the wall at the other end of the room pressing
his hand to his side and with ashen face, sank suddenly to the floor,
doubled up in a pool of his own blood. In the dining-room, in the hall,
everywhere that I could see, were the marks of a fearful struggle. The
man on the sofa gasped faintly, "Water," and I ran into the dining-room
and hastened back with a brimming goblet.

"What does it all mean?" I demanded of Gleason.

Big drops of sweat were pouring down his pallid face. The fearful scene
had entirely sobered him.

"Potts has found the man who robbed him of his wife. That's she on the
floor yonder. Go and help her."

But she was already coming to and beginning to stare wildly about her. A
glass of water helped to revive he