ant to face Jonathan just then.

He started at a sudden crackling report that resounded through the
lonely building, followed by a strange continued sputtering. He went
slowly into the corridor and to Jonathan's office. At the door he
stopped, staring in stupid surprise at the intent kneeling figure dimly
outlined in the glow of hot metal and the bluish crackling flame.
Then, with a vague notion that it was the wrong thing to do but his
overwrought brain not quite grasping the situation, he took two steps
into the room.

"Get out of here--whoever you are."

With a muttered ejaculation the intruder turned his head to look, then
sprang back from the safe, breaking the contact. Instantly the room
became black. David stared, still stupidly, at the dull red spot on
the safe until it faded into blackness. Then he realized. He stood
very still, muscles tense, senses sharply alert. He heard a faint
rustling but he could not make out from what part of the room it came.

Smith crouched, rigid and breathless, waiting for a shot. It did not
come. Slowly, as silently as possible, he reached for the sheath knife
he carried and drew it. He had a gun, but a knife, the old cracksman
had said, was much better for a fight in the dark and it had the
superlative virtue of noiselessness. He became motionless again, his
eyes vainly straining to pierce the darkness, waiting for the other to
make a move. The silence and inaction became unbearable. He gathered
his nerve and muscles for a rush to where the door ought to be and
leaped forward. At the third step a fist struck out and caught him on
the neck. He recoiled a little, then lashed out blindly with the
knife. He heard a sharp gasp and a body crumpling to the floor. But
Smith waited no longer. Groping his way to the door, he sped along the
corridor and through the shop to the rear window where he had entered.

A quarter of an hour later a watchman espied the open window. He
whistled a policeman to his aid and together, after a period of
timorous deliberation, they entered and with many discreet pauses
tiptoed over the building. They found David in the corridor, where he
had given up crawling, weakly trying to stanch the flowing blood.

The policeman was young and new to his job. He mopped his brow
nervously at sight of so much blood.

"Are yez much hurted, d'yez think?" he inquired anxiously.

"More scared than hurt, probably." David smiled wanly. "But, just t