For the moment, doubtless, Sonny's yells ending with victory; but another cry came sharp and short, as--the door giving under Kate's hasty fingers--two men tumbled over the threshold. Jim Douglas uppermost, his hands gripping the other's throat.
"Shut the door!" he gasped. "Lock it. Then my revolver--no--a knife-- no noise--quick. I can't hold--the brute long."
Kate turned and ran mechanically, and the steel in her hand gleamed as she flew back. Jim Douglas, digging his knees into the ribs below them, loosened one hand cautiously from the throat and held it out, trembling, eager.
But Kate saw his face. It might have been the Gorgon's, for she stood as if turned to stone.
"Don't be a fool!" he panted--"give it me! It's the only----" A sudden twist beneath him sent his hand back to the throat. "It's--it's death anyway----"
Death! What did that matter? she asked herself. Let it come, rather than murder!
"No!" she said suddenly, "you shall not. It is not worth it." The knife, flung backward, fell with a clang, but the eyes which--though that choking grip on the throat made all things dim--had been fixed on its gleam, turned swiftly to those above them and the writhing body lay still as a corpse. None too soon, for Jim Douglas was almost spent.
"A rope," he muttered briefly, "or stay, your veil will do."
But Kate, trembling with the great passion and pity of her decision, had scarce removed it ere Jim Douglas, changing his mind, rose to his feet, leaving his antagonist free to do so likewise.
"Get up, Tiddu," he said breathlessly, "and thank the mem for saving your life. But the door's locked, and if you don't swear----"