I was exquisitely sensitive to touch, to sound, but I could not see anything.

By and by all was quiet, and I slipped into a black void.

Familiar heavy swift footsteps, the thump of heels of a powerful and striding man, jarred into the blackness that held me, seemed to split it to let me out; and I opened my eyes in a sunlit room to see Sally's face all lined and haggard, to see Miss Sampson fly to the door, and the stalwart Ranger bow his lofty head to enter.

However far life had ebbed from me, then it came rushing back, keen-sighted, memorable, with agonizing pain in every nerve.

I saw him start, I heard him cry, but I could not speak.