for the three wires leading to the power-house. Two were for carrying
light to the building. If the third one was connected with the right
one of the lighting-wires, an infernal-machine would be set going,
and the power-house, with all in it, would be blown to atoms. And, at
this moment, Bruce and the Major were there. The man, whoever he was,
had, since the wires were broken, found it necessary to test the
pairs out. His first trial had been wrong. He was bending over for a
second try when something struck him, bowling him over like a
ten-pin. It was Barney.

The man was heavier than Barney, and evidently older. He was fit, too.
One thing Barney had noticed--the gleam of an automatic in the man's
hip-pocket. In his sudden attack he had managed to drag this out and drop
it upon the snow.

The struggle which followed was furious. Holds were lost and won. Blood
flecked the snow, arms were wrenched and faces bruised. Slowly, steadily,
Barney felt his strength leaving him.

At last, with a gliding grip, the man's hand reached his throat. It was
all over now. Barney's senses reeled as the grip tightened. His lungs
burned, his head seemed bursting. He was about to lose consciousness,
when through his mind there flashed pictures of Bruce and the Major. He
must! He must! With one last heroic effort, he threw the man half from
him. Then, faintly, far distant, there seemed to echo a shot, a single
shot; then all sensation left him.

When the boy felt himself coming back to consciousness, he hardly knew
whether he was still in the land of the living. He dared not move or open
his eyes. Where was he? What of the stranger? The Major and Bruce; had