"Never you mind, I——"
He broke off suddenly and his face went ashy pale.
"Did you see that?" he cried. "Did you see that! Like a blue flame!"
He got upon his feet unsteadily. His mouth was open; his eyes were staring.
"Why, what's the matter? You ain't drunk, are you? What did you see——?"
"See! Look!"
Billy wheeled like a flash. A light of dazzling brilliancy shone for an instant, and in the smaller room, through the doorway of which they gazed as though transfixed, floated a gossamer of unholy, blue smoke. Then, before the instant became an æon, they saw rise, as though from the very heart of the dazzle, the upper-half of a white, shrouded form. One arm waved sweepingly toward them. Before the æon died an unearthly screech rent the silence, followed by a scuffle and thug as both youths rushed down the stairs. They sped into the road and the deep shadows of the woods swallowed them.
V
Blindfolded, Kerwin had seen nothing, but the dazzle had pierced the covering of his eyes and he had felt the light, and he had heard. His head was like thistle-down borne on the wings of a zephyr. He attempted to move, to call out. A deadly nausea overcame him. He realized that he was fainting. Then, of a sudden, his melting senses took form again, as he heard a familiar voice cry:
"Kerwin, old chap!... By Jove! We'll fool 'em yet, if you hurry!"