had assaulted.

The hand was wrenched from him. There came a zigzag flash of lightning
searing his brain, a crash that filled the world for him--and he
floated into unconsciousness.




CHAPTER VII

FOUL PLAY

Lane came back painfully to a world of darkness. His head throbbed
distressingly. Querulously he wondered where he was and what had taken
place.

He drew the fingers of his outstretched hand along the nap of a rug and
he knew he was on the floor. Then his mind cleared and he remembered
that a woman's hand had been imprisoned in his just before his brain
stopped functioning.

Who was she? What was she doing here? And what under heaven had hit
him hard enough to put the lights out so instantly?

He sat up and held his throbbing head. He had been struck on the point
of the chin and gone down like an axed bullock. The woman must have
lashed out at him with some weapon.

In his pocket he found a match. It flared up and lit a small space in