"You fellows go down to the street and see if you can head him off that way," he cried. "Stay here, Walter."
Before I knew it he had seized the rope and was going across to the other building, hand over hand. It was a perilous undertaking, but his blood was up.
Kennedy had almost reached the other roof when suddenly from behind the skylight stepped Long Sin. With a wicked leer, he advanced to the edge of the roof, his axe upraised. I looked across the yawning chasm, horrified.
Slowly Long Sin raised the axe above his head, gathering all the strength which he had, waiting for Kennedy to approach closer. Kennedy stopped. Swiftly the axe descended, slashing the rope at one blow.
Like the weight of a pendulum Kennedy swung back against our own building, managing to keep his hold on the rope with superhuman strength.
I bent far over the edge of the roof, fully expecting to see him dashed to pieces at the bottom of the court.
There was a tremendous shattering of glass.
The rope had been just long enough to make him strike a window and he had gone crashing through the glass three floors below.
I dashed down the stairs and into the apartment. Kennedy was lying on the floor badly cut. I raised him up. He was dazed and considerably overcome; but as he staggered to his feet with my help I saw that no bones were broken.
"Help me, quick, Walter," he urged, moving toward the elevators.