r at the thing on the ground at his feet, the man just
behind him drew from his pocket something which I guessed at rather
than recognised, something which caused me to spring forward with my
fist clenched.

It was the work of a moment to strike down the man who, in an instant,
with a criminal's basest weapon, would have stunned Lossing and left
him there in the choking smoke to be suffocated.

As Voisin went down I had just enough strength and breath to catch
hold of Lossing and drag him out; and, in a moment, calling some
others to my aid, we went in after Voisin.

As we lifted him the 'knuckles' dropped from his relaxed hand, and,
unnoticed in the smoke, I picked them up and hastily concealed them.
He was quite insensible, and a little stream of blood was trickling
from one side of his face, where he had struck upon some hard
substance in falling.

As he lay upon the ground a sudden thought caused me to start; and I
bent down quickly, put my finger solicitously upon his wrist, and then
pushing back the dark hair, which always lay in a curving mass over
his brow, a little to one side, I laid bare a rather high forehead,
upon which, clearly defined, was an oblong scar quite close to the
roots of the concealing lovelock. Calling Lossing's attention to this,
I replaced the lock, smoothed it into place and arose.

'Come away,' I said to Lossing, and leaving Voisin in the hands of
those about him for a moment, we withdrew to a place where we might
see and be unseen. I told Lossing of the attempt upon his life, and he
was not greatly surprised.

'I ought to have been on my guard,' he said, 'for I think he caused me
that lagoon dip. But I was carried out of myself by this cursed
holocaust. What shall we do?'

'Keep out of his sight, and let them take him to the hospital. He's
not seriously hurt. Possibly he's shamming, now; though he was
stunned, as well as half-suffocated.'

It was as I surmised. Voisin opened his eyes after some time, and made
an effort to rise, but he seemed weak and dazed, and they withdrew him
from the place where he lay and made him comfortable in a sheltered
spot, to await the return of an ambulance, going back for a few
moments to note the progress of the fire.

They were not long absent, but when they went back to their charge he
was not there, and a bystander had seen him rise, look about him, and
move away, at first slowly and then quite briskly, in the direction of
the Sixty-fourth St