"What do you think of this secret of the painting?" I asked.
"I think it's real," she answered, turning back toward the lab. Wistfully, I watched her go. Someday, maybe, I would be lucky enough to find a woman as loyal to me as Ann was to Tom. When this happened, I would notice that she existed! In the meantime, my job was to check the spacious grounds.
Wham!
The length of garden hose with the lead in the end of it came at me from behind a wide hedge I was passing. I saw both it and the arm holding it, but I didn't see either soon enough. It came down across my skull with enough force to have addled an elephant. I saw constellations of stars as I went down.
I recovered consciousness with the thought in mind that dozens of smallsized devils were jabbing me with red-hot needles. Trying to move, I discovered the source of the devils. I had been tossed into the middle of the wide hedge and the thorns were sticking me. My hands were tied behind my back and my feet were pulled up behind me and tied to my hands. Also, the sun was rising. I could see the glow of dawn in the sky. I had been unconscious all night!
"If I ever catch that Long Jaw!" I thought.
Then I realized that the light I was seeing wasn't coming from the rising sun. The main building of the lab was on fire! Tom and Ann might be in there!
The cords that bound my hands snapped like so many threads as I hunched my shoulders. Putting my hands in front of my eyes, I rolled out of the hedge. Thorns tore at my flesh. I didn't care. I hit the ground with a jolt that rattled every bone in my body, then tore the cords from my feet.
Smoke was pouring upward into the night sky. Off in the distance a siren was screaming. The police or the fire department, I couldn't tell which. Heat seared my face and I ran toward the lab. Looking inside, I saw a figure moving against the flames. Ann! As I stared, she went down. Pulling my coat over my face, I dived into the lab. Flames crackled in my ears. I sensed rather than felt my clothes begin to smoke. Ann stumbled to her feet and went down again. Reaching her side, I saw that she had been trying to drag Tom out of the building. The task had been beyond her strength.