Kennedy warded off the blow as best he could, then, still undaunted, started up the stairs after the fellow.
Up they went, into the choir loft and then into the belfry itself. There they came to sheer hand to hand struggle. Kennedy tripped on a loose board and would have fallen backwards, if he had not been able to recover himself just in time. The crook, desperate, leaped for the ladder leading further up into the steeple. Kennedy followed.
Elaine had recovered consciousness almost immediately and, hearing the commotion, stirred and started to rise and look about.
From the church she could hear sounds of the struggle. She paused just long enough to seize the crook's revolver lying on the floor.
She hurried into the church and up into the belfry, thence up the ladder, whence the sounds came.
The crook by this time had gained the outside of the steeple through an opening. Kennedy was in close pursuit.
On the top of the steeple was a great gilded cross, considerably larger than a man. As the crook clambered outside, he scaled the steeple, using a lightning rod and some projecting points to pull himself up, desperately.
Kennedy followed unhesitatingly.
There they were, struggling in deadly combat, clinging to the gilded cross.
The first I knew of it was a horrified gasp from my own crook. I looked up carefully, fearing it was a stall to get me off my guard. There were Kennedy and the other crook, struggling, swaying back and forth, between life and death.