on top of
those little white straining ones, and by a timely effort bent both them
and the key round together; the ward shot home as Jose hurled himself
against the door. Eva bolted it. But the thud was not repeated, and I
gathered myself together between the door and the nearest window, for by
now I saw there was but one thing for us. The nigger must be disabled,
if I could manage such a nicety; if not, the devil take his own.

Well, I was not one tick too soon for him. My pistol was not cocked
before the crash came that I was counting on, and with it a shower of
small glass driving across the six-foot sill and tinkling on the flags.
Next came a black and bloody face, at which I could not fire. I had
to wait till I saw his legs, when I promptly shattered one of them at
disgracefully short range. The report was as deafening as one upon the
stage; the hall filled with white smoke, and remained hideous with the
bellowing of my victim. I searched him without a qualm, but threats
of annihilation instead, and found him unarmed but for that very knife
which Rattray had induced me to hand over to him in town. I had a grim
satisfaction in depriving him of this, and but small compunction in
turning my back upon his pain.

"Come," I said to poor Eva, "don't pity him, though I daresay he's the
most pitiable of the lot; show me the way through, and I'll follow with
this lamp."

One was burning on the old oak table. I carried it along a narrow
passage, through a great low kitchen where I bumped my head against the
black oak beams; and I held it on high at a door almost as massive as
the one which we had succeeded in shutting in the nigger's face.

"I was afraid of it!" cried Eva, with a sudden sob.

"What is it?"

"They've taken away the key!"

Yes, the keen air came through an empty keyhole; and my lamp, held
close, not only showed that the door was locked, but that the lock was
one with which an unskilled hand might tamper for hours without result.
I dealt it a hearty kick by way of a test. The heavy timber did not
budge; there was no play at all at either lock or hinges; nor did I see
how I could spend one of my four remaining bullets upon the former, with
any chance of a return.

"Is this the only other door?"

"Then it must be a window."

"All the back ones are barred."

"Securely?"

"Yes."

"Then we've no choice in the matter."

And I led the way back to the hall, where the poor black devil lay
blubbering i