m. I've done
that to you. They'll find me out now, and what's behind the mask, too.
They'll kill us both. They'll have to. Listen!"

"We'll make a fight of it, Nora," he said grimly. "No matter what I do,
trust me."

"Hush!" she breathed. "I think the door is open."

"I'm going to flash the light," he answered.

"No. I know they are here. I know they are in the room. I hear--"

He snapped the button. The white shaft pierced the darkness. Nora had
been right. Slim and three others with ready revolvers were half way
across the room. Garth put his finger to his lips.

"Sh--h," he said. "Wait! Don't come any closer."

"What's wrong, Simmons?" Slim whipped out. "Who called? That's George.
What--"

"He got fresh with the girl," Garth answered.

Slim waited, taking in the details of the tableau, weighing Garth's
words and manner, studying Nora's collapsed figure and its proximity to
Garth's.

"You're bluffing, Simmons," he said at last. "I'm after facts now. Toss
up your hands."

He raised his revolver, aiming at Garth's body. Nora gave a little cry.
Garth laughed.

"You don't quite understand," he answered slowly, "and you're usually so
observant, Slim. Look around. The safe is open behind us. Your bullets
would clip through Nora and me into those sacks of army destroyers. What
then? So you won't be surprised when I take my hands down."

He lowered them. He took his own revolver from his pocket.

"But," he went on, "there's nothing behind you but a steel wall, and if
one of you comes a step closer I'll shoot."

The four gathered together, whispering, inaudibly to Garth; but this
tense grouping, this excited council warned him of their only possible
answer.

"If you try to rush me," he cried, "or if you try to get out of the
room, I'll turn the revolver on the safe and blow the whole lot of us to
powder in this pleasant steel shell."

Slim turned, white-faced.

"You wouldn't have the nerve," he said. "After all, you're a bull."

"Just to show you," Garth answered quietly, "I'll put the whole pack on
the table. You've called the turn, Slim. I'm that."

He snatched the mask from his face, and took a police whistle from his
pocket. He raised it to his lips. He blew a call which he felt would
penetrate beyond these steel walls. It was the first unrestrained sound
the room had heard that night. It thrilled Garth. It was like a tonic.
He laughed outright.

"No more fighting in the dark. Thank God!"

The