it.

"I am the friend of Mme. Czerny," said he, cringingly; "trust me,
signor, for God's sake trust me!"

"When you earn the trust," said I, grimly; "now march, and remember!"

I let him go through, and then locked the iron doors behind me. Miss
Ruth, at least, must be protected from the rogues below. The lamps in
the corridor were still burning, and, by here and there, I thought that
I saw figures in the shadows. But no man hailed me, and when I came to
the great dormitory which, at first passing, was full of seamen, I
found the door of it open and no more than six or seven men still about
its tables. If they heard me come up they suspected nothing. I shall
always say that the brightest idea of that night was the one which came
to me while I stood by the open door and counted the devils that Czerny
had left to guard his house. For what should I do, upon the oddest
impulse, but put my hand round the door very quietly and, closing it
without noise, turn the key first in the lock and then in my pocket.

"Six," said I to the man before me; "and you make seven. How many more
in this place now, Benno Regnarte?"

He held up his hands and began to count.

"In the engine-room one, two, three," he said; "upon the ladder hereby
two; at the great door two more. Seven men altogether, signor. Your
party will be more than that?"

I laughed at his notion, and, seeing that the man still shivered with
fear and was not to be counted, I went straight ahead to the greater
work I had to do. Already the alarm was raised in the room behind me,
and men were beating with their fists upon the iron door. It was ten to
one that their cries must be heard and one of the sentinels called from
the sea; but, miracle if you will, or greed of plunder if that is the
better term, none came; none answered that heavy knocking. And I--why,
I was at the cavern's head by that time, and, opening the trap, I had
spoken to my shipmates.

"Up you come, every one of you--up for your lives!" cried I. "Do you,
Seth Barker, lift the doctor, and let Peter Bligh follow after. There's
no time to lose, lads--no time at all."

I took them by surprise, be sure of it. That opening trap, the light
flashing down upon them, the message when they had begun to despair of
any message, the call to action--aye, how they leaped up to answer me
with ready words!

"To God be the glory!" cries Peter Bligh, and I can hear him now. "To
God be the glory! 'It was the captain's vo