I felt that if I could come safely to the end of these barn buildings I could afford to laugh at my fears.
Suddenly my strained hearing detected what I had been listening for all the time.

There was a faint but audible rustling in the shrubs overgrowing the wall on my left.

I made a quick dash forward, tripped against some invisible obstacle stretched across the lane, and went staggering sideways, struggling to preserve my balance.

Almost at the same moment two dark forms dropped from the shelter of the shrubs on to the lane by my side.

I felt the soft splash of a wet cloth upon my cheeks, an arm round my neck, and the sickening odour of chloroform in my nostrils.