In ten seconds, it seemed to Kent, Marette Radisson was again the splendid creature who had held the three men at bay over the end of her little black gun at barracks.

The sound of Mooie's second warning came at first as a shock.

Accompanying it there was a moment of fear, of fear driven almost to the point of actual terror.

Following it came a reaction so swift that Kent was dazed.

Within those ten seconds the girl's slender body seemed to grow taller; a new light flamed in her face; her eyes, turning swiftly to him, were filled with the same fire with which they had faced the three constables.