Count Hannibal

It was done--at last! With a burst of gratitude, of triumph, of

exultation, she stood erect. She realized that it was done, and that

here in her hand she held the packet. A deep gasp of relief, of joy, of

thankfulness, and she glided towards the door.

She groped for the latch, and in the act fancied his breathing was

changed. She paused, and bent her head to listen. But the patter of the

rain, drowning all sounds save those of the nearest origin, persuaded her

that she was mistaken, and, finding the latch, she raised it, slipped

like a shadow into the passage, and closed the door behind her.

That done she stood arrested, all the blood in her body running to her

heart. She must be dreaming! The passage in which she stood--the

passage which she had left in black darkness--was alight; was so far

lighted, at least, that to eyes fresh from the night, the figures of

three men, grouped at the farther end, stood out against the glow of the

lanthorn which they appeared to be trimming--for the two nearest were

stooping over it. These two had their backs to her, the third his face;

and it was the sight of this third man which had driven the blood to her

heart. He ended at the waist! It was only after a few seconds, it was

only when she had gazed at him awhile in speechless horror, that he rose

another foot from the floor, and she saw that he had paused in the act of

ascending through a trapdoor. What the scene meant, who these men were,

or what their entrance portended, with these questions her brain refused

at the moment to grapple. It was much that--still remembering who might

hear her, and what she held--she did not shriek aloud.

Instead, she stood in the gloom at her end of the passage, gazing with

all her eyes until she had seen the third man step clear of the trap. She

could see him; but the light intervened and blurred his view of her. He

stooped, almost as soon as he had cleared himself, to help up a fourth

man, who rose with a naked knife between his teeth. She saw then that

all were armed, and something stealthy in their bearing, something cruel

in their eyes as the light of the lanthorn fell now on one dark face and

now on another, went to her heart and chilled it. Who were they, and why

were they here? What was their purpose? As her reason awoke, as she

asked herself these questions, the fourth man stooped in his turn, and

gave his hand to a fifth. And on that she lost her self-control, and

cried out. For the last man to ascend was La Tribe--La Tribe, from whom

she had parted that morning.