Shoot!" Again there came a silence.

She heard Dale walking about in the kitchen.

She heard him place a chair near the wall which divided the pantry from the kitchen, and then for the first time she realized that the partition did not reach entirely to the ceiling; that it rose to a height only a few feet above her head.
She heard Dale laugh, triumphantly, at just the instant she looked at the top of the partition, and she saw one of Dale's legs come over.

It dangled there for a second; then the man's head and shoulders appeared, with his hands gripping the top of the wall.
She began to tear at the barricade she had erected, and had only succeeded in partially demolishing it, when Dale swung his body over the wall and dropped lightly beside her.
She fought him with the only weapons she had, her hands, not waiting for him to advance on her, but leaping at him in a fury and striking his face with her fists, as she had seen men strike others.
He laughed, deeply, scornfully, as her blows landed, mocking her impotent resistance.

Twice he seized her hands and swept them brutally to her sides, where he held them--trying to grip them in one of his; but she squirmed free and fought him again, clawing at his eyes.
The nails of her fingers found his cheek, gashing it deeply.