Bell gazed doubtfully at Lane.
"Smith, search the rooms," he ordered, addressing his patrolman.
"We were alone here," spoke up Lane. "And I advise you to hurry those wounded veterans to a hospital in the rear."
Swann showed signs of recovering consciousness. Bell bent over him a moment. Lane had only one hope—that the patrolman would miss the door. But he brushed aside the curtain. Then he grunted.
"See here, Chief—a door—and somebody's holding it from the inside," he declared.
"Wait, Smith," ordered Bell, striding forward. But before he got half-way across the room the door opened. A girl stepped out and shut it back of her. Lane sustained a singular shock. That girl was Bessy Bell.
"Hello, Dad—it's Bessy," she said, clearly. She was pale, but did not seem frightened.
Chief Bell halted in the middle of a stride and staggered a little as his foot came down. A low curse of utter amaze escaped his lips. Suddenly he became tensely animated.
"How'd you come here?" he demanded, towering over her.
"I walked."