The Great Secret | Page 4

an exceedingly dangerous character. If he
should be concealed in your room the consequences to yourself might
be most serious."
"Thank you," I said, "I am quite capable of taking care of myself."
Both men were standing as close to me as I was disposed to permit. I
fancied that they were looking me over, as though to make an estimate
of the possible amount of resistance I might be able to offer should they
be disposed to make a rush. The odds, if any, must have seemed to
them somewhat in my favor, for I was taller by head and shoulders than
either of them, and a life-long devotion to athletics had broadened my
shoulders, and given me strength beyond the average. Besides, there
was the revolver in my right hand, which I took occasion now to
display. The shorter of the two men again addressed me.
"My dear sir," he said softly, "it is necessary that you should not
misapprehend the situation. The person of whom we are in search is
one whom we are pledged to find. We have no quarrel with you! Why
embroil yourself in an affair with which you have no concern?"
"I am not seeking to do so," I answered. "It is you and your friend who
are the aggressors. You have forced an entrance into my room in a most
unwarrantable fashion. Your missing friend is nothing to me. I desire to
be left in peace."
Even as I spoke the words, I knew that there was to be no peace for me
that night, for, stealthy though their movements were, I saw something
glisten in the right hands of both of them. The odds now assumed a
somewhat different appearance. I drew back a pace, and stood prepared
for what might happen. My _vis-à-vis_ in the gold-rimmed spectacles
addressed me again.
"Sir," he said, "we will not bandy words any longer. It is better that we

understand one another. There is a man hidden in your room whom we
mean to have. You will understand that we are serious, when I tell you
that we have engaged every room in this corridor, and the wires of your
telephone are cut. If you will permit us to come in and find him, I
promise that nothing shall happen in your room, that you shall not be
compromised in any way. If you refuse, I must warn you that you will
become involved in a matter more serious than you have any idea of."
For answer, I discharged my revolver twice at the ceiling, hoping to
arouse some one, either guests or servants, and fired again at the
shoulder of the man whose leap towards me was like the spring of a
wild-cat. Both rooms were suddenly plunged into darkness, the elder of
the two men, stepping back for a moment, had turned out the electric
lights. For a short space of time everything was chaos. My immediate
assailant I flung away from me with ease; his companion, who tried to
rush past me in the darkness, I struck with a random blow on the side of
the head, so that he staggered back with a groan. I knew very well that
neither of them had passed me, and yet I fancied, as I paused to take
breath for a moment, that I heard stealthy footsteps behind, in the room
which I had been defending. I called again for help, and groped about
on the wall for the electric light switches. The footsteps ceased, a
sudden cry rang out from somewhere behind the bed-curtains, a cry so
full of horror, that I felt the blood run cold in my veins, and the sweat
break out upon my forehead. I sought desperately for the little brass
knobs of the switches, listening all the while for those footsteps. I heard
nothing save a low, sickening groan, which followed upon the cry, but I
felt, a moment later, the hot breath of a human being upon my neck. I
sprang aside, barely in time to escape a blow obviously aimed at me
with some weapon or other, which cut through the air with the soft,
nervous swish of an elastic life-preserver. I knew that some one who
sought my life was within a few feet of me, striving to make sure
before the second blow was aimed. In my stockinged feet I crept along
by the wall. I could hear no sound of movement anywhere near me, and
yet I knew quite well that my hidden assailant was close at hand. Just
then, I heard at last what I had been listening for so long and so eagerly,
footsteps and a voice in the corridor outside. Somebody sprang past me
in the darkness, and, for a second,