"There is no key on this side," I replied. Then I caught a glimpse of a light flashing through the keyhole and wondered what had become of the key.
"It must have fallen to the floor on that side," said the young doctor. "I cannot find it in the hall."
I again succeeded in maneuvering to a position in front of the door. Then I tramped about in front of it until my shoe struck a hard object. Stooping, I picked it up, and rejoiced to find that the doctor had been right. Again using one hand to manipulate the chair, I inserted the key in the lock and managed to turn it, though with considerable difficulty.
"Turn the knob," I shouted, "and push."
The knob turned, and the door opened behind me. A beam of light shot past me, for a moment illuminating the hairy face and dripping fangs of the brute. Then a shot rang out, the light faded from the luminous eyes, and the beast sank slowly to the floor, blood gushing from its mouth and nostrils.
"Good shot, doctor," I said, turning and releasing my hold on the battered chair. To my surprise I saw Miss Van Loan holding the flash light in one hand and a smoking pistol in the other, while great tears trickled down her cheeks.
"You!" I cried.
"I was holding these while the doctor went for a ladder," she said. "He was going to try to help you by climbing up to the window. Then I heard you call. Poor Sandy."
"Too bad you had to kill your pet," I replied, closing the door and relieving her of gun and torch.
"W—wasn't it horrible?" she sobbed. "B-but I had to do it. He might have k-killed you."
I was about to thank her for having saved my life when the young doctor suddenly came up from the basement, dragging a stepladder.
Seeing us standing there in the hall, he laid it down and joined us.
"You have been rescued, I see," he said.
"Most bravely," I replied.
"Did the beast bite or scratch you?"
"No."
"Are you sure? Sometimes a wound goes unnoticed in the heat of combat. Perhaps I had better look you over. I am reasonably sure the dog had hydrophobia."
He forthwith examined me with the aid of the flash-light. I had not known it before, but my left coat sleeve was torn, and my arm was bleeding where the sharp fangs had raked it.
"Infected," he said, "and of course I have no serum with me. Come out on the porch."
On the porch, he made a ligature with a towel and a pair of long scissors. Then he took a bottle and some cotton from his case and drenched the wounds with silver nitrate.
"Better come to the hospital with me at once for a serum treatment," he advised. "It may save your life."
"But I can't leave my friends" I began.
"Nonsense," interrupted Dr. Dorp, who was sitting up, although still muffled in a blanket. "Miss Van Loan and I will be all right here on the porch until you get back."
"Of course," said the girl. "You have put your life in sufficient jeopardy as it is, Mr. Evans."
Thus admonished, I got into the coupé with the young doctor, and we set out for the hospital.
"Queer thing the way that door shut and locked itself," he said, when we emerged on the smooth paving of Sheridan Road. "The key must have been half turned in the lock when the wind blew it shut. The jar locked it and shook out the key."
Although I did not feel that his explanation of the phenomenon was a true one, I decided not to debate the matter with him, as it was evident that Miss Van Loan did not want it known among her acquaintances that there were strange goings on in her home.
"It was odd," I agreed.
"Too bad that the lights had to go out just when they did, too," he went on. "A most unfortunate coincidence."
"It was," I said, with mental reservations.
AN hour later at the hospital, my wound was dressed and a considerable quantity of serum injected into my blood stream. Then I called a cab which got me back to my friends shortly after midnight.
I found Dr. Dorp dozing in one of the porch chairs with a blanket around him, and Miss Van Loan, completely exhausted, asleep in the swing.
"Better try to get some rest in one of these chairs," said the doctor. "There is nothing further we can do until morning."
was not loath to follow his suggestion, and soon drifted into a fitful, dream-haunted slumber from which I did not thoroughly awaken until the slanting rays of the morning sun struck me full in the face.
For a moment I sat there, blinking in the bright light, trying to remember where I was. Then the sound of a low cough from the doorway caused me to turn. I beheld the cadaverous face and angular form of Riggs.
"Good morning, sir," he said.
"Good morning, Riggs."
"Will you have your bath hot or cold, Sir?"
"The colder the better."
"Thank you, sir."
A few moments later I was shaving with a razor which Riggs informed me had belonged to his late master, while a sizable column of cold water roared into the tub. While I bathed and dressed, the house-man repaired the rent in my sleeve. A half hour aftterward, feeling greatly rested and refreshed, I went down to breakfast. Miss Van Loan met me in the dining room where places had been laid for two.
"Dr. Dorp left early this morning for the city," she informed me. "He asked me to have you wait here until his return this afternoon."
"He could not have set me a more pleasant task," I replied, receiving my cup of coffee from the hand of my charming hostess. "Did he mention what urgent business took him to the city?"
"Something about some investigations he wished make, and some paraphernalia he would need for
