The smoke at the bottom had become so dense that Nick no longer could see her, but he felt quite sure that he could put an end to her present murderous game.
He drew his revolver and fired two quick shots in her direction. One bullet crashed through the ceiling above her. The second clipped a lock of hair from over the vixen's ear.
It brought a shriek of alarm to her lips, and she sprang quickly back from the curb over which she was stooping.
"Caramba!" she yelled, excitedly. "That's your game, is it?"
"You'll find it is, if you approach that opening again!" cried Nick, half choked with smoke, while he fiercely strove to extinguish the blazing garments.
"Oh, I'll not give you another chance at me!" screamed Cervera. "I'll push over something heavier, and crush out your life with—"
She suddenly stopped, then held her breath and listened.
The crash of a breaking door reached her ears, then hurried footsteps began falling on the main stairway leading to her chamber.
"Some one is coming!" she fiercely muttered. "Perhaps another detective! I must be off!"
Yet so bitter was her hatred of Nick, and so intensely enjoyable to her the trick she had served him, that she lingered for an instant in the face of the impending danger, and screamed down the well, with a mocking laugh: