
He stepped aside to let Curwood and the stenographer pass to the hall. Then, as an afterthought, he
strolled with them to the elevator, talking to Curwood in a nonchalant tone.
The lawyer and the stenographer entered an elevator. The doors clanged. Rund walked back to his
offices. He entered the outer door and closed it; but he failed to press the latch. He turned out the light;
then went into his private office and left the door ajar.
STANDING by the window, Rund stared downward. A white cornice projected outward, two floors
below. Staring beyond the cornice, Rund watched the moving lights in the tiny streets. His thoughts
became detached. Minutes passed before a slight noise made him turn and walk to his desk.
Rund listened. He heard no new sound. Rubbing his forehead nervously, he shoved Curwood's card
under a corner of the blotter; then went to a small safe in the corner of the room. He opened the steel
door and drew out a packet of letters. He carried these to the desk, laid them on the blotter and rubbed
his chin.
This stack of correspondence contained envelopes that bore the picturesque postage stamps of Garauca.
It was plain that there were papers here that could prove incriminating. Rund was considering whether he
should destroy them or place them in Curwood's possession.
There was a pad of paper beyond the blotter. Rund reached out, tore off a sheet and brought it toward
him. He performed this action with his left hand. With his right, he then drew a fountain pen from his vest
pocket.
Nervously, Rund began to scrawl a note on the sheet of paper. He stopped at the end of a sentence. Pen
in hand, he looked up toward the door of his private office. Staring, he saw two men—one half way to
the desk, the other by the door.
AS Sigby Rund was transfixed by alarm, the lights went out. The man at the door had pressed the switch.
Simultaneously, the second intruder reached the desk with a long, swift leap.
Rund dropped his fountain pen as he thrust his chair back from the desk. Coming to his feet, he raised his
hands to grapple, while his lips voiced a sudden outcry. Both were futile. Clutching hands caught Rund's
throat. They ended his scream while they choked away his strength.
The second invader arrived. He, too, fell upon the unfortunate victim. Rund's body sagged limply.
Whispered growls sounded in the darkness. One man was urging the other to drag Rund's form to the
window. Together, they drew their victim to that objective.
Then, lifting the half-choked man between them, the powerful assassins moved backward. Rund's eyes,
bulging as they stared, saw blackness ahead, with distant lights far beyond. His lips emitted a gargling
protest.
"Go."
The command came as Rund tried to gasp a call for help. Brawny arms swung forward. They catapulted
the victim's body head foremost through the broad, opened window. Arms and legs clawing and kicking,
Rund's form cleared the cornice two floors below.
Lessening in size as it whirled on its mad downward flight, Rund's body sped from the view of the men
who had launched it on the death plunge. Unable to see the finish of the fall, because of the cornice which
Rund had passed, the assassins stepped back from the window.
Flashlights glimmered in the darkness of the private office. Papers crinkled; the door of the safe thudded