ive on the crown of the head, and he fell
to his knees, dropping the torch, which of course went out as soon as
the thumb relaxed its pressure.

CHAPTER XV

SOME STAGE EFFECTS

Fenley himself dropped almost simultaneously with the rifle, landing
with both feet on Furneaux's back, and thus completing the little
man's discomfiture. By that time the two policemen were nearly upon
him, but he was lithe and fierce as a cobra, and had seized the rifle
again before they could close with him. Jabbing the nearer adversary
with the muzzle, he smashed a lamp and sent its owner sprawling
backward. Then, swinging the weapon, he aimed a murderous blow at the
second constable.

The man contrived to avoid it to a certain extent, but it glanced off
his left arm and caught the side of his head; and he, too, measured
his length. All three, detective and police, were on their feet
promptly, for none was seriously injured; but Furneaux was dazed and
had to grope for the torch, and the second constable's lamp had gone
out owing to a rush of oil from the cistern. Thus, during some
precious seconds, they were in total darkness.

Meanwhile Fenley had escaped. Luck, after deserting him, had come to
his rescue in the nick of time. He had blundered into the path, and
managed to keep to it, and the somewhat strong language in which
Furneaux expressed his feelings anent the Hertfordshire Constabulary,
and the no less lurid comments of two angry members of the force,
helped to conceal the sounds which would otherwise have indicated the
direction taken by the fugitive.

At last, having found the torch, Furneaux collected his scattered
wits.

"Now don't be scared and run away, you two," he said sarcastically,
producing an automatic pistol. "I'm only going to tell Mr. Winter that
we've bungled the job."

He fired twice in the air, and two vivid spurts of flame rose high
among the branches of the chestnut; but the loud reports of the
shooting were as nothing compared with the din that followed. Every
rook within a mile flew from its eyrie and cawed strenuously.
Pheasants clucked and clattered in all directions, owls hooted, and
dogs barked in the kennels, in the stable yard, and in nearly every
house of the two neighboring villages.

"I don't see what good that'll do, sir," was the rueful comment of the
policeman who had, in his own phrase, "collected a thick ear," and was
now feeling the spot tenderly. "He hasn't shinned up the tree