He started involuntarily.
He had seen the man before. It was the same person he had seen in the
carriage with the woman on the day that he first noticed the placard
announcing a reward for the capture of Victoria Vane's murderer.
He had heard him called Mr. Brown.
This fact at once roused the suspicions of the young engineer to
fever-heat. He believed now that he was the victim of a deep-laid plot.
With his hand on his revolver, he looked the bearded stranger squarely in
the face, and said:
"Mr. Brown, what does this mean?"
But the man addressed thus abruptly was not looking at August. Instead,
he gazed beyond, into the depths of the night outside, the door standing
open.
There was the sound of a step outside.
Bordine turned quickly.
A stalwart form was framed in the narrow door--the form of Perry Jounce,
the tramp!
There was the gleam of a devil in the man's eye, and in his right hand he
clinched the haft of a huge knife.
Instantly the young engineer realized that murder was intended.
Self defense is the first law of nature, and Bordine acted upon it with
the quickness of lightning.
Pages:
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144