CHAPTER XVIIAlmost before they had stepped on to the dancing floor, the shock came. There was the sound of a shrill, penetrating whistle from a distant corner, two sharp revolver shots, and within another second the whole room was enveloped in darkness. For a moment or two the music continued, the dancers swayed against one another, a moving phalanx of half-laughing, half-terrified humanity, groping their way through the perfumed obscurity. Then a woman’s hysterical cry following those two reports struck a note of fear. Somewhere in the middle of the floor a woman fainted, calling out wildly as she collapsed.... A powerful hand gripped Fawley’s arm, a man’s voice whispered in his ear:
“I lead you. Hold my wrist and the Princess.”
Fawley for a moment hesitated. It was obvious that there w
