My heart went down in my boots as I heard the thud of that second closed window. There was going to be no waste of time.
I thought of catching the woman and holding her shield-like before me. I thought of the telephone; the light-switch; the window. But they all seemed hopeless.
The woman turned away, holding her hands over her ears. The incongruous thought flashed through me that two hours before I had called the city flat and stale; and here, within a rifle shot of my own door, I was standing face to face with death itself!
"Look here," I cried, much as I hated to, "what do you get out of this?"
"You!" said the man.
"And what good will that do?"
"It'll probably shut your mouth, for one thing!"
"But there are other mouths," I cried. "And I'm afraid they'll have a great deal to say."
"I'm ready for them!" was his answer.
I could see his arm raise a little, and straighten out as it raised. The gun barrel was nothing but a black "O" at the end of my line of vision. I felt my heart stop, for I surmised what the movement meant.