"So was I. I saw you on the steps. Just then the staircase seemed to become strangely gray—"
"And it moved!" added the girl. "I remember now. Something like a ripple passed over it—"
"I didn't see that," admitted Larry. "I was too busy running. But—but where are we, anyway?"
A touch of panic flickered in the girl's eyes.
"We—we couldn't be dead?"
Larry shook his head. "I thought of that. But it isn't likely. Not both of us. One of us might have fallen down the steps and broken a neck—but not two, together. And there was no explosion or anything like that. I don't see—"
Suddenly the girl gasped, clutching his arm.
"Look! Over there in the trees!"
Larry looked—and moved swiftly. With a jerk, he ripped open his bag, pawed through its contents, and came up with a snub-nosed automatic.
"Get behind me!" he shouted. "I don't know what's going on here, but—"