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Isaac Bell whipped a Browning automatic from his coat

“Elevate!” he coly quick and powerful man with the rope, whom he could see only as a shadow “Hands in the air”

But again the leader of the attackHe threw the coiled rope Loops of it entangled Bell’s gun hand In the instant it took to untangle himself, Bell was astonished to see the attacker scoop his unconscious acco into the sea Then he ran

Bell threw off the rope and leveled his pistol: “Halt!”

The attacker kept running

Isaac Bell waited coolly for hiet a clear shot to shoot theNo 2 sees could noth in the air like a circus acrobat, and tumbled into the dark

Bell ran to the spot the man had jumped from and looked over the side of the ship

The water was black, bearded white where the Mauretania’s hull raced through Bell could not see whether theor had sunk beneath the waves In either event, unless the motorboat returned and its creas extraordinarily lucky in their search, it was highly unlikely they would pull him out before the bitter-cold Irish Sea sucked the life from his body

Bell holstered his pistol and buttoned his coat over it What he had just seen was singular in his experience What would possess the man to throw his unconscious accomplice overboard to certain death, then hurl himself to the same fate?

“Thank you, sir, thank you so very much,” spoke a voice in the accent and baroque cadence of a cultured Viennese “Surely e our lives to your swift and courageous action”

Bell peered down at a coroaned, “Wish you’d saved us before he socked ot run over by a streetcar”

“Are you all right, Clyde?” asked the Viennese

“Nothing aby a qualified blonde won’t cure” Clyde climbed unsteadily to his feet “Thanks, mister You saved our bacon”

Isaac Bell asked, “Were they trying to kill you or kidnap you?”

“Kidnap”