"No," he growled savagely. "Go, you—"
"Look out," cried Betty, who alone of us all could see clearly what Toutou was doing with his right hand. "His knife!"
Hélène snatched a pistol from her blouse; but he was too quick for her. As the flame spurted from the barrel he leaped aside, and his immensely long arm curled out and slashed down. The blood frothed over the hilt of his knife as it clicked on her collar-bone, and she dropped, choking, to the floor.
In the same instant Hugh fired, but one of us jostled him and the bullet missed. Toutou turned, saw the curtain swaying as we charged, and ran for the door. I fired once, and the bullet chipped between his arm and side, but he was out before we could shoot again.
From the courtyard came a crash and a ripple of shots that vied with the thunder. A chorus of yells pierced thinly the howling of the gale.
Nikka, hearing Hélène's pistol, had accepted it as the long over-due signal for his attack.
"Take care of Betty, Professor!" Hugh called to King. "See if you can help this poor girl. Come on, Jack, Watty!"
CHAPTER XXV
THE RECKONING
The big room was a maze of shadows. Stable-lanterns, flickering in the drafts, hung from hooks in walls and pillars. Toutou stayed his flight by the door to the courtyard, one ear inclined to the bedlam of shots and outcries that threaded the roar of the storm. As we burst in he raised a pistol and sprayed us with bullets as rapidly as he could pull the trigger. But he had the knife-fighter's inability to shoot straight. Bullets "phutted" all around us, yet none of us was hit.