is reason for believing that he was not stabbed," he went on, as
they reached the street, "for the men all say that they were armed only
with clubs, and that the strictest orders were given that none were to
carry knives, therefore there is little doubt that he was at the time
only stunned. But I am bound to say that this gives me very small ground
for hoping that we may find him alive. I fear they only stunned him, so
that they might carry him safely to their haunts, for if stopped
they could say that it was a drunken comrade, who had fallen and hurt
himself. I fear that when they get him into one of their dens they will
make short work of him, therefore it is clear that there is not a moment
to be lost. Ah, here comes the watch."

There were eight men with the Lieutenant.

"I have already sent off ten others," he said as he joined Chetwynd, "to
watch the lanes, and let no one go in or out. I thought it best not to
lose a moment about that, for when the men see that we have learned
from the others where the gang came from, and have closed the avenues
of escape, they will hesitate about murdering their prisoner if he was
still alive when my men got there."

In a quarter of an hour they arrived at the end of a narrow lane, where
two watchmen were standing with lanterns.

"You have seen nor heard nothing?" the Lieutenant asked him.

"No, sir, we have not seen a man moving in the lane."

"There is just one hope that we might be in time," the Lieutenant said,
as he went on down the lane, "and that is, that the fellows when they
gather will be so dismayed at finding that nearly half their number are
missing, and knowing that some of them are pretty sure to make a clean
breast of it, they will hesitate to complete their crime. It is one
thing to rob a man in the streets, quite another to murder him in cold
blood. There is likely to be a good deal of difference of opinion among
them, some of the more desperate being in favor of carrying the thing
through, but others are sure to be against it, and nothing may have been
done. You may be sure that the sight of my men at the end of the lanes
will still further alarm them. I have no doubt the news that we have
surrounded the district has already been circulated, and that if alive
now he is safe, for they will think it is better to suffer a year or
two's imprisonment than to be tried for murder. We are sure to make some
captures, for it is probable that several of the others wi