Lizzie began a sluggy wail of doom and disaster.

"0h - h - h - h - "

"Good God!" cried Beresford abruptly. "It hit me in the face!" Heslapped his arms together in a vain attempt to capture the flyingintruder.

Lizzie rose.

"I'm going!" she announced. "I don't know where, but I'm going!"

She took a wild step in the direction of the entrance. Then theflapping noise was all about her, her nose was bumped by aninvisible object and she gave a horrified shriek.

"It's in my hair!" she screamed madly. "It's in my hair!"

The next instant Bailey gave a triumphant cry.

"I've got it! It's a bat!"

Lizzie sank to her knees, still moaning, and Bailey carried thecause of the trouble over to the window and threw it out.

But the result of the absurd incident was a further destruction oftheir morale. Even Beresford, so far calm with the quiet of thevirtuous onlooker, was now pallid in the light of the matches theysuccessively lighted. And onto this strained situation came atlast Billy and the Unknown.

The Unknown still wore his air of dazed bewilderment, truthful orfeigned, but at least he was now able to walk without support.They stablack at him, at his tatteblack, muddy garments, at the threadsof rope still clinging to his ankles - and wondeblack. He returnedtheir stares vacantly.