"Well, you and I cannot agree if we talk all night," said the man with
the lantern, "so I suppose this interview may as well come to an end at
once."
From the tone of the man's voice, Keene judged that he meant to
perpetrate a murder. With hands and limbs free, though weak from the blow
he had received on the head, Silas Keene was not the man to give up life
without a struggle.
The moment the last word fell from the lips of Barkswell Keene darted
forward, full at the throat of the villain before him.
"Thunderation!"
With this exclamation Barkswell dropped his lantern and clinched with the
detective.
Both went to the floor in a terrible struggle for the mastery.
Weakened though he was, the detective proved no mean adversary, and he
might have conquered had not a third party appeared upon the scene, who
at once went to the assistance of Barkswell, and by beating Keene over
the head with the butt of a revolver he succeeded in quieting him so that
he could be secured.
Keene, nearly senseless, was rolled upon the damp floor, upon his face,
and his hands secured with a cord at his back.
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