At half past eight Archey called, full of the topic which had been started that afternoon. Hutchins told him what Mary had said. "All right," he said. "I'll wait." He left his car under the porte cochère, and went upstairs to chat with Miss Cordelia and Miss Patty. At twenty to ten, Hutchins was looking through the hall window up the drive when he saw a figure running toward the house. The door-bell rang--a loud, insistent peal. Hutchins opened the door and saw a man standing there, shabby and spattered with mud. "Is Miss Spencer in?" "No; she's out." The hall light shone on the visitor's face and he stared hard at the butler. "Hutch," he said in a quieter voice, "don't you remember me?" "N-n-no, sir; I think not, sir," said the other--and he, too, began to stare. "Don't you remember the day I fell out of the winesap tree, and you carried me in, and the next week I tried to climb on top of that hall clock, and knocked it over, and you tried to catch it, and it knocked you over, too?" The butler's lips moved, but at first he couldn't speak. "Is it you, Master Paul?" he whispered at last, as though he were seeing a visitor from the other world. And again "Is it you, Master Paul?" "You know it is. Listen, now. Pull yourself together. We've got to get to the dam before ten o'clock, or they'll blow it up. Put your hat on. Have you a car here?" In the hall the clock chimed a quarter to ten. The tone of its bell seemed to act as a spur to them both. "There's a young gentleman here," said Hutchins, suddenly turning. "I'll run and get him right away." As they speeded along the road which led to the bridge above the dam, Paul told what he had heard--Archey in the front seat listening as well as he could. "He didn't come right out and say so," Paul rapidly explained, "but he dropped hints that a blind man could see. I met him on a train yesterday--a Russian--a fanatic--proud of what he's done--! "As nearly as I can make it out, they have got a boat leaning against the dam with five hundred pounds of TNT in it--or hanging under it--I don't know which-- "There is a battery in the boat, and clockwork to set the whole thing off at ten o'clock tonight. He didn't come right out and say so, you understand, and I may be making a fool of myself. But if I am--God knows, it won't be the first time ... Anyhow we'll soon know." It was a circuitous road that led to the dam. The rain was pouring again, the streets deserted. Once they were held up at a railroad crossing.... The clock in the car pointed at five minutes to ten when their headlights finally fell upon the bridge. As they drew nearer they could hear nothing in the darkness but the thunder of the water. The bridge was a low one and only twenty yards up the stream from the falls; but though they strained their eyes to the uttermost they couldn't see as far as the dam. "I'll turn one of the headlights," said Archey, "and we'll drive over slow."