stepped--Marakinoff!

Larry awoke to life.

"Now, thank God," he rasped, "I can get that devil, anyway!"

He drew his pistol, took careful aim. Even as he pressed the trigger
there rang through the abode a tremendous clanging. The ram was
battering at the gates. O'Keefe's bullet went wild. The Russian must
have heard the shot; perhaps the missile was closer than we knew. He
made a swift leap behind the guards; was lost to sight.

Once more the thunderous clanging rang through the castle.

Lakla drew herself erect; down upon her dropped the listening
aloofness. Gravely she bowed her head.

"It is time, O love of mine." She turned to O'Keefe. "The Silent Ones
say that the way of fear is closed, but the way of love is open. They
call upon us to redeem our promise!"

For a hundred heart-beats they clung to each other, breast to breast
and lip to lip. Below, the clangour was increasing, the great trunk
swinging harder and faster upon the metal gates. Now Lakla gently
loosed the arms of the O'Keefe, and for another instant those two
looked into each other's souls. The handmaiden smiled tremulously.

"I would it might have been otherwise, Larry darlin'," she whispered.
"But at least--we pass together, dearest of mine!"