which they led. Three windows were visible, but they were broken and
neglected. One, immediately above the arch, had been pasted up with
brown paper, and this was now peeling off in the rain, a little stream
of which trickled down from the detached corner to drop, drearily,
upon the stone stairs beneath.

Where were the detectives? I could only assume that they had directed
their attention elsewhere, for had the place not been utterly
deserted, surely I had been challenged.

In pursuit of my new idea, I again descended the steps. The persuasion
(shortly to be verified) that I was close upon the secret hold of the
Chinaman, grew stronger, unaccountably. I had descended some eight
steps, and was at the darkest part of the archway or tunnel, when
confirmation of my theories came to me.

A noose settled accurately upon my shoulders, was snatched tightly
about my throat, and with a feeling of insupportable agony at the base
of my skull, and a sudden supreme knowledge that I was being
strangled--hanged--I lost consciousness!

How long I remained unconscious, I was unable to determine at the
time, but I learned later, that it was for no more than half an hour;
at any rate, recovery was slow.

The first sensation to return to me was a sort of repetition of the
asphyxia. The blood seemed to be forcing itself into my eyes--I choked
--I felt that my end was come. And, raising my hands to my throat, I
found it to be swollen and inflamed. Then the floor upon which I lay
seemed to be rocking like the deck of a ship, and I glided back again