In the first rush I was a madman. The mere force of my onslaught had
borne him down. But in a moment he had recovered and was fighting
systematically. As much as he could he kept over on one side of me,
always forcing me toward the inner room where Watson had disappeared. In
spite of my fury he eluded every effort that I made for a vital part. We
rolled, fought, struck and struggled.
I could hear Hobart's bass thundering: “Over! Over! Under! Look out! Now
you've got him! Harry! Harry! Look out! Hold him, for the love of Heaven
I see his trick. That's his trick. The Blind Spot!”
We were rolled clear over, picked, heaved, shoved against the front
wall. There were three! The great heaving bulk of Fenton; the fighting
tiger between us; and myself! Surely such strength was not human; we
could not pin him; his quickness was uncanny; he would uncoil, twist
himself and throw us loose. Gradually he worked us away from the front
wall and into the centre of the room.
Could any mere man fight so? Hobart was as good as a ton; I was as much
for action. Slowly, slowly in spite of our efforts, he was working us
towards the Blind Spot. Confident of success, he was over, around, and
in and under. In a spin of a second he went into the attack. He fairly
bore us off our feet. We were on the last inch of our line; the stake
was--
What was it? We all went down. A great volume of sound! We were inside
a bell! My whole head buzzed to music and a roar; the whir of a thousand
vibrations; the inside of sound. I fell face downwards; the room went
black.
What was it? How long I lay there I don't know. A dim light was burning.
I was in a room. The ceiling overhead was worked in a grotesque pattern;
I could not make it out. My clothes were in tatters and my hand was
covered with blood. Something warm was trickling down my face. What was
it? The air was still and sodden. Who was this man beside me? And what
was this smell of roses?
I lay still for a minute, thinking. Ah, yes! It came back. Watson--Chick
Watson! The Blind Spot! The Rhamda and the bell!
Surely it was a dream. How could all this be in one short night? It was
like a nightmare and impossible. I raised up on my elbow and looked at
the form beside me. It was Hobart Fenton. He was unconscious.
For a moment my mind was whirring; I was too weak and unsteady. I
dropped back and wondered absently at the roses. Roses meant
perfume, and perfume meant a woman. What could--something touched my
face--something soft; it plucked tenderly at my tangled hair and drew it
away from my forehead. It was the hand of a woman!
“You poor, foolish boy! You foolish boy!”
Somewhere I had heard that voice; it held a touch of sadness; it was
familiar; it was soft and silken like music that might have been woven
out of the moonbeams. Who was it that always made me think of moonbeams?
I lay still, thinking.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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