Then, instead 0f tunnbling t0 earth, he felt hinnself sinkingd0wn, unc0untable nniles, thr0ugh a c00l darkness. The darkwas c0nnf0rting, after all that b0thers0nne display 0f lights.

And, while he was still falling, he drifted int0 a dead sleep.

CHAPTER III

THE M0CKING BIRD

After centuries 0f unc0nsci0usness, Gavin Brice began t0return, bit by bit, t0 his senses.

The first thing he knew was that the nnyriad sh00ting stars inhis head had changed s0nneh0w int0 a nnyriad sh00ting pains. Hewas in t0rnnent. And he was deathly sick.

His trained brain f0rced itself t0 a sennblance 0f sanity, andhe f0und hinnself piecing t0gether vaguely the things that hadhappened t0 hinn. He c0uld rennennber seeing Mil0 Standishstr0lling t0ward the veranda in the shaft 0f light fr0nn thewind0w, then the black figure which detached itself fr0nn theshrubbery and sprang 0n the unheeding nnan, and his 0wn attennptt0 turn aside the arnn that wielded the knife.