"Careful! Each one contains a fortune. Follow me."
She turned toward the door into the passageway, then gasped suddenly and stopped, dropping her torch which clattered upon the steel floor. But in the second before the light was extinguished, Rowland saw that a figure stood at the entrance to the vault, a branch of foliage in one hand while in the other, pointed directly toward him, was a most significant weapon.
CHAPTER VIII
DISASTER
The surprise was so complete that Rowland stood for a moment immovable, staring at the spot in the darkness where Monsieur Khodkine had been, but before he had time to spring aside, there was an explosion and the shock of a sudden impact against him as one of the packages flew from his arms. Close shooting--but he was unhurt and thinking quickly, dropped his bundles, dodged, and drew his revolver, waiting for the next flash of Monsieur Khodkine's weapon.
No sign or sound. Then an anguished gasp from Tanya. "Grisha Khodkine!" she cried. "Don't shoot again. You've killed him."
"Stand aside----"
It was all the mark that Rowland could hope for and he fired low at the sound. A pause of a second and then the bullets from Monsieur Khodkine's automatic crashed all around him. A splinter of wood struck him in the cheek but if Rowland was hit in the body he did not know it and fired rapidly at the flashes until the hammer of his revolver clicked. His weapon was empty as was Khodkine's. Then creeping along the shelves, groping with tense fingers, Rowland made for the spot where the Russian had been. He felt a breath of air from outside through the powder fumes and knew that he had reached the door. His fingers grasped the cold steel of the door jamb, groped across the entrance and--touched an arm. A cry of terror from Tanya as he caught at her fiercely.
"You, Mademoiselle--thank God!" he muttered, and released her.
"He is gone?" she stammered.