Chapter 19

I did as I was ordered. Yet, at the same moment that my fingers set flame to the chemical, something whizzed past my ear so close to my stooping face that I could feel the breath of its movement. As I swung about I saw that a spear, long and heavy-headed and slender of shaft, had imbedded its point in the platform timber beside me. I could see, in the mounting red glow of the fire, the still poised figure of the thrower, the forward-thrust right arm, the whites of the watching hostile eyes under the frowning brow. …