She caught his eye, and her faculties, sharpened by the imminent
peril, read relentment there. For the moment, at any rate, he was
softened. If she could master him now while he was off his guard--he
was not a very strong man! But the pistol----
Slowly, still groaning out supplications, she rose to her feet.
"Yes," he said, "be quiet while I think if I can spare you," and he
half turned his head away from her. For a moment nothing was heard but
the rush of the gale and the roll of the wheels running over and under
bridges.
This was her opportunity. All her natural ferocity arose within her,
intensified a hundred times by the instinct of self-protection. With a
sudden blow she struck the pistol from his hand; it fell upon the
floor of the carriage. And then with a scream she sprang like a wild
cat straight at his throat. So sudden was the attack that the long
lean hands were gripping his windpipe before he knew it had been made.
Back she bore him, though he seized her round the waist. She was the
heavier of the two, and back they went, /crash/ against the carriage
door.
It gave! Oh, God, the worn catch gave! Out together, out with a yell
of despair into the night and the raging gale; down together through
sixty feet of space into the black river beneath.
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