stinguishable save just below the pale lights which were
scarcely more than pin pricks in black velvet. But the barrier behind
seemed to thrust them out aggressively.

Struggling to regain his breath, Wilson found his blood running freer
and his senses more alert than for years. The night surrounding him
had suddenly become his friend. It became pregnant with new
meaning,--levelling walls, obliterating beaten man paths, cancelling
rusty duties. In the dark nothing existed save souls, and souls were
equal. And the world was an uncharted sea.

Then in the distance he detected the piercing light from a dark
lantern moving in a circle, searching every nook and cranny. He knew
what that meant; this road was like a blind alley, with no outlet.
They had been trapped. He glanced at the girl huddling at his feet
and then straightened himself.

"They sha'n't!" he cried. "They sha'n't!"

He ran his hand along the door to the latch. It was locked; but he
drew back a few steps and threw his full weight against it and felt it
give a trifle.

"They'll hear us," warned the girl.

Though the impact jarred him till he felt dizzy, he stumbled forward
again; and yet again. The lock gave and, thrusting the girl in, he
swung the door to behind them.

They found themselves in a small, paved yard. Fumbling about this,
Wilson discovered in the corner several pieces of joist, and these he
propped against the door. Then he sank to the ground exhausted.

In spite of his bruised body, his tired legs, and aching head, he felt
a flush of joy; he was no longer at bay. A stout barrier stood between
him and his pursuers. And when he felt a warm, damp hand seeking his
he closed over it with a new sense of victory. He was now not only a
fighter, but a protector. He had not yet been able to see enough of
the girl's features to form more than the vaguest conception of what
she was. Yet she was not impersonal; he felt that he could have found
her again in a crowd of ten thousand. She was a frailer creature who
had come to him for aid.

He gripped her fingers firmly as the muffled sound of voices came to
their ears. The officers had evidently passed and were now returning,
balked in their search. Pausing before the little door, they
discussed the situation with the interest of hunters baffled of their
game.

"Faith, Murphy, they _must_ have got over this wall somewhere."

"Naw, they couldn't. There's glass atop the lingth of ut, an' there
isn't