Slipping from behind the tapestry, he stood ready in the doorway of
the chamber, with a warning hand upraised. Lawless, flushed
crimson, with his eyes injected, vacillating on his feet, drew
still unsteadily nearer. At last he hazily caught sight of his
commander, and, in despite of Dick's imperious signals, hailed him
instantly and loudly by his name.
Dick leaped upon and shook the drunkard furiously.
"Beast!" he hissed--"beast and no man! It is worse than treachery
to be so witless. We may all be shent for thy sotting."
But Lawless only laughed and staggered, and tried to clap young
Shelton on the back.
And just then Dick's quick ear caught a rapid brushing in the
arras. He leaped towards the sound, and the next moment a piece of
the wall-hanging had been torn down, and Dick and the spy were
sprawling together in its folds. Over and over they rolled,
grappling for each other's throat, and still baffled by the arras,
and still silent in their deadly fury. But Dick was by much the
stronger, and soon the spy lay prostrate under his knee, and, with
a single stroke of the long poniard, ceased to breathe.
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