I knew very well that
neither of them had passed me, and yet I fancied, as I paused to take
breath for a moment, that I heard stealthy footsteps behind, in the room
which I had been defending. I called again for help, and groped about on
the wall for the electric light switches. The footsteps ceased, a sudden
cry rang out from somewhere behind the bed-curtains, a cry so full of
horror, that I felt the blood run cold in my veins, and the sweat break
out upon my forehead. I sought desperately for the little brass knobs of
the switches, listening all the while for those footsteps. I heard
nothing save a low, sickening groan, which followed upon the cry, but I
felt, a moment later, the hot breath of a human being upon my neck. I
sprang aside, barely in time to escape a blow obviously aimed at me with
some weapon or other, which cut through the air with the soft, nervous
swish of an elastic life-preserver. I knew that some one who sought my
life was within a few feet of me, striving to make sure before the second
blow was aimed. In my stockinged feet I crept along by the wall.
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