None of these was like it, though it had something of them all, with, added, the sourness of chemical waste and the poisonous effluvium of the bilge of a water- logged ship whereon a multitude of rats had been drowned.
Then, quite unexpectedly, the negro noticed the presence of a third person--Adam Salton! He pulled out a pistol and shot at him, happily missing.

Adam was himself usually a quick shot, but this time his mind had been on something else and he was not ready.

However, he was quick to carry out an intention, and he was not a coward.

In another moment both men were in grips.

Beside them was the dark well-hole, with that horrid effluvium stealing up from its mysterious depths.
Adam and Oolanga both had pistols; Lady Arabella, who had not one, was probably the most ready of them all in the theory of shooting, but that being impossible, she made her effort in another way.