The Argosy — page 101: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

BY RIGHT OF SWORD. 293 inside. ‘The same unpromising look of things met me when_I left the front ° and crept round to the back, and when I had been all round the house I could not make up my mind what was the best thing to do. There are times, however, when any kind of action is better than doing nothing. ‘There was everything to be gained, and nothing to be lost, by Devinsky learning that I had followed him and knew his hiding place. I therefore resolved on a pretty bold course, and drawing my revolver, I stepped out into the full moonlight and walked quickly to the main entrance. I had arrived at within ten yards of the door when a voice called to me. ‘‘ Who goes there? What do you want? Stop, or I fire.”’ Looking up I saw the gleam of a rifle barrel leveled dead at me. I did not stop to answer, but leaping aside, I darted forward into the doorway, where the man could not cover me with his weapon, because of a shallow porch which intervened to protect me. The incident showed me the sort of welcome I was to expect. There was an old and heavy knocker on the door, anda huge bell pull. I seized both of these, and set up first a knocking that might have roused the dead and then a clanging of the bell equally furious and dinning. Presently the bell ceased to sound, and I gathered either that some one within had cut the wires or that I had broken them in my energy. ‘The great knocker suited me equally well, however; perhaps better. Suddenly, and without my knowing the cause, the big door gave way before one of my lusty attacks with the knocker, and as I pushed it swung slowly open. Everything within was as dark as pitch; and the contrast between the row I had been making and the dead silence that followed was so profound as to make me stand a minute so that my ears should get accustomed to the change. Then drawing my sword and holding my revolver in my left hand, I stepped in and tried to peer about me. The light of the moon gave a faint reflection within, but not enough for me to be able to make out anything distinctly ; nor, when I strained my ears, could I detect the slightest sound anywhere. My first thought was that, as I stood in the doorway, I should be an ex- cellent mark for any one caring to shoot, and I slipped aside, therefore, into the heavy shadow of the big door. It was full five minutes before my eyes, keen as they are, could distinguish anything; and then I seemed to make out two doorways, one on each side of a large hall into which the big: door opened ; and beyond them, in the middle, a broad stairway. I groped my way warily a few steps, feeling cautiously along the wall, when I stopped and began to reflect that I was making a fool of myself in attempt- ing, single handed and in pitch darkness, to find my way about the place. I ‘must wait for a light of some sort. I had no idea how many men there might be in the house. I did not know a square foot of the place. While I was blundering about in the dark I should be an easy prey for men whom I could as easily fight in the daylight. Moreover, I argued that the knowledge that I had tracked him would keep Devinsky from attempting any devilment as yet. * Eomichook (S(@)