ght when I met
Jacqueline.

I knew from Leroux's statement to me that the man had been a member of
his gang. I was quite able to take care of myself under normal
circumstances.

But now--I was afraid. The mighty cliff before me, the silence of the
deserted alleys in which I wandered helplessly, the thought of
Jacqueline alone, waiting anxiously for my return, almost unmanned me.
I felt like a hunted man, and my safety, upon which her own depended,
attained an exaggerated importance in my mind.

So I almost ran forward into the byway which seemed to lead toward the
summit, and as I did so I heard the footsteps close behind me again.

I had entered one of the narrowest streets I had ever seen, and the
most curious. It was just wide enough to admit the passage of a sleigh
perhaps; the crumbling and dilapidated old houses, which seemed
deserted, were connected overhead by a succession of wooden bridges,
and those on my left were built into the solid rock, which rose sheer
overhead.

In front of me the alley seemed to widen. I almost ran; but when I
reached it I found that it was merely a bend in the passage, and the
alley ran on straight as before.

On my left hand was a tiny unfenced courtyard, not more than six yards
in area, and I turned into this quickly and waited. I was confident
that the bend in the street had hidden me from my pursuer and, as I
anticipated, he came on at a swifter rate.

He was abreast of me when I put out my hand and grasped him by the
coat, while with the other I felt in my pocket for my automatic pistol.

It was not there. I had left it in the pocket of the overcoat which I
had changed at the furrier's shop and had sent to the chateau. And I
was looking into the villainous face of the ruffian who had knocked me
down on Sixth Avenue.

"What are you following me for?" I cried furiously.

He wrenched himself out of my grasp and pulled a long knife from his
pocket. I caught him by the wrist, and we wrestled to and fro upon the
snow. He pummelled me about the face with his free hand, but though I
was no match for him in strength, he could not get the knife from me.
The keen steel slashed my fingers, but the thought of Jacqueline helped
me.

I got his hand open, snatched the knife, and flung it far away among
the stunted shrubs that clung to the cliffside. And we stood watching
each other, panting.

He did not try to attack me again, but stood just out of my reach,
grinning d