He seemed to have the agility as well as the
semblance of a carnivorous animal. He bounded sideways towards the wall of
the library, picked up the writing-desk, and barricaded himself behind it.
In the same second he produced a small, shining article from his waistcoat
pocket, and shouted, in a voice now cracked with rage:
"Stand back, all of you. You may shoot me! I will not be arrested!"
Winter, swearing, scrambled from the floor. Robert, too, threw off the
yelling servant, and rose to his feet. Alarmed not only by the curious
entry made by David Hume and Holden, but also by the racket in the
library, other servants were now clamouring at the locked door, for Holden
had slipped his left hand behind him and turned the key. Brett similarly
closed the window. They were five to one, but the one seemed to defy them.
"That be blowed for a tale!" roared the infuriated detective, whose blood
was fired by the manner in which he had been floored. "I arrest you in the
King's name for the murder of Sir Alan Hume-Frazer, and I warn you--"
Robert Hume-Frazer waited for no preliminary explanation of an official
character. He wanted to feel that man's bones crack under his grasp. He
had the strong man's ambition to close with an opponent worthy of his
thews and sinews. Without any warning, he made for the Japanese, who
seemed to await his oncoming with singular equanimity, though otherwise
quivering with baulked hate.
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