n he
cried aloud for the guard, and came at me. Again and again I struck
him; but his thick skull might have been armor plate, for all the
damage I did it.

He tried to close with me, seizing the rifle, but I was stronger than
he, and, wrenching the weapon from his grasp, tossed it aside and made
for his throat with my bare hands. I had not dared fire the weapon for
fear that its report would bring the larger guard stationed at the
farther end of the corridor.

We struggled about the room, striking one another, knocking over
furniture, and rolling upon the floor. Menelek was a powerful man, and
he was fighting for his life. Continually he kept calling for the
guard, until I succeeded in getting a grip upon his throat; but it was
too late. His cries had been heard, and suddenly the door burst open,
and a score of armed guardsmen rushed into the apartment.

Victory seized the rifle from the floor and leaped between me and them.
I had the black emperor upon his back, and both my hands were at his
throat, choking the life from him.

The rest happened in the fraction of a second. There was a rending
crash above us, then a deafening explosion within the chamber. Smoke
and powder fumes filled the room. Half stunned, I rose from the
lifeless body of my antagonist just in time to see Victory stagger to
her feet and turn toward me. Slowly the smoke cleared to reveal the
shattered remnants of the guard. A shell had fallen through the palace
roof and exploded just in the rear of the detachment of guardsmen who
were coming to the rescue of their emperor. Why neither Victory nor I
were struck is a miracle. The room was a wreck. A great, jagged hole
was torn in the ceiling, and the wall toward the corridor had been
blown entirely out.

As I rose, Victory had risen, too, and started toward me. But when she
saw that I was uninjured she stopped, and stood there in the center of
the demolished apartment looking at me. Her expression was
inscrutable--I could not guess whether she was glad to see me, or not.

"Victory!" I cried. "Thank God that you are safe!" And I approached
her, a greater gladness in my heart than I had felt since the moment
that I knew the Coldwater must be swept beyond thirty.

There was no answering gladness in her eyes. Instead, she stamped her
little foot in anger.

"Why did it have to be you who saved me!" she exclaimed. "I hate you!"

"Hate me?" I asked. "Why should you hate me, Victor