"Hallo, there! Are you asleep?"
This loud call came after repeated knocking and rattling. But there
was no response, nor the slightest indication of life within the
chamber.
"They are here, I am certain." These words were distinctly heard by
the anxious inmates.
"Then we must break in the door," was resolutely answered.
"Oh, for heaven's sake, put up that pistol!" hoarsely whispered
Leach. "Such resistance will be fatal evidence against us. Better
open the door and put a bold face upon it."
"Too late!" was just whispered back, when the door flew open with a
crash, and the body of the man who had thrown himself against it
with a force greatly beyond the resistance, fell inward upon the
floor. At the same instant, Lyon exclaimed, in a quick, savage
voice--
"Back, instantly, or you are dead men!"
There was such a will in the words he uttered, that, for a moment,
the men, four in number, fell back from the open door, and in that
instant Lyon sprung past them, and, ere they could recover
themselves, was beyond their reach.
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