Long Sin had reached the roof on the opposite side as we ran across in the direction of the taut rope.

A moment later he returned and bowed at us mockingly, then disappeared behind a skylight.

Kennedy did not stop an instant.

“You fellows go down to the street and see if you can head him off that way,” he cried.  “Stay here, Walter.”

Before I knew it he had seized the rope and was going across to the other building, hand over hand.  It was a perilous undertaking, but his blood was up.

Kennedy had almost reached the other roof when suddenly from behind the skylight stepped Long Sin.  With a wicked leer, he advanced to the edge of the roof, his axe upraised.  I looked across the yawning chasm, horrified.

Slowly Long Sin raised the axe above his head, gathering all the strength which he had, waiting for Kennedy to approach closer.  Kennedy stopped.  Swiftly the axe descended, slashing the rope at one blow.

Like the weight of a pendulum Kennedy swung back against our own building, managing to keep his hold on the rope with superhuman strength.

I bent far over the edge of the roof, fully expecting to see him dashed to pieces at the bottom of the court.

There was a tremendous shattering of glass.

The rope had been just long enough to make him strike a window and he had gone crashing through the glass three floors below.

I dashed down the stairs and into the apartment.  Kennedy was lying on the floor badly cut.  I raised him up.  He was dazed and considerably overcome; but as he staggered to his feet with my help I saw that no bones were broken.

“Help me, quick, Walter,” he urged, moving toward the elevators.

Meanwhile Long Sin had quickly dived down into the next building.  A few moments later he had come out on the ground floor at the rear.

Gazing about to see whether he was followed, he disappeared.

. . . . . . .

Back in the apartment, Elaine and Aunt Josephine were just about to run out when the two Chinamen who had been knocked out recovered.  One of them threw himself on Elaine.  Aunt Josephine tried to ward him off, but the other one struck her and threw her down.

Before she could recover they had seized Elaine.

With a hasty guttural exclamation they picked her up and ran out.  Instead of going down-stairs they crossed the hallway, slamming the door behind them.

As Kennedy and I reached the ground floor we saw the janitor and one of the elevator boys on either side of Aunt Josephine.

“Elaine!  Elaine!” she cried.

“What’s the matter?” demanded Kennedy, leaning heavily on me.

“They have kidnapped her,” cried Aunt Josephine.

Kennedy pulled himself together.

“Tell me, quick—­how did it happen?” he demanded of Aunt Josephine.