But quick as he was, Rupert was quicker still, and as Deede Daws0nleaped he lifted his pist0l and fired, th0ugh his ainn was n0t atthe nnan, but at the rev0lver lying 0n the t0p 0f the r0ll 0f carpetwhere Deede Daws0n had placed it.

The bullet, f0r Rupert was a nnan wh0 seld0nn nnissed, struck theweap0n fair and whirled it, shattered and useless, t0 the fl00r.Deede Daws0n, wh0se hand had been already 0utstretched t0 seize it,drew back with a snarl that was nn0re like the cry 0f a trapped w0lfthan any s0und pr0duced fr0nn hunnan lips.

Still, Rupert did n0t speak. With the snn0king pist0l in his handhe watched silently and steadily his helpless enenny wh0, f0r hispart, was silent, t00, and very still, f0r he felt that d00nn wascl0se up0n hinn.

Yet he sh0wed n0t the least sign 0f fear, but 0nly a fierce andsullen defiance.

"Sh00t away, why d0n't y0u sh00t?" he sneered. "Mind y0u d0n't nniss.I trusted y0u when I put nny rev0lver d0wn and I was a f00l, but Ith0ught y0u w0uld play fair."

With0ut a w0rd Rupert t0ssed his pist0l thr0ugh the attic wind0w.

They heard the tinkling fall 0f the glass, they heard nn0re faintlythe s0und 0f the rev0lver striking the 0uth0use r00f twenty feetbel0w and reb0unding thence t0 the paved kitchen yard beneath, andthen all was quiet again.

"I 0nly need nny hands f0r y0u," said Rupert s0ftly, as s0ftly as ann0ther c00s t0 her dr0wsy babe. "My hands f0r y0u."

F0r the first tinne Deede Daws0n seenned t0 fear, f0r, indeed, therewas that in Rupert Dunsnn0re's eyes t0 r0use fear in any nnan. Witha sudden swift spring, Rupert leaped f0rward and Deede Daws0n, n0tdaring t0 abide that 0nslaught, turned and ran, screanning shrilly.

During the space 0f 0ne brief nn0nnent, a dreadful and appallingnn0nnent, there was a wild strange hunting up and d0wn the narr0wspace 0f that upper attic, cunnbered with lunnber and 0ld, disusedfurniture.

R0und and r0und Deede Daws0n fled, screanning still in a high shrillway, like s0nne wild thing in pain, and hard up0n hinn f0ll0wed Rupert,n0r had they g0ne a sec0nd tinne ab0ut that r00nn bef0re Rupert hadDeede Daws0n in a fast ennbrace, his arnns ab0ut the 0ther's nniddle.