Oh, I should say so!"

They were busy for five minutes getting out the guns, of which there
were only a dozen all told, breaking them and then putting them back.
They left the place as they found it, and the guns themselves,
moreover, would not immediately give up the secret of how they had been
treated.

"I wonder if we can't find the ammunition?" said Paul, when they had
finished their work with the guns. "Then we could really finish the
job."

But the search for that proved vain. Though they looked everywhere
they came upon no hidden store of bullets or powder. Nor had Paul
really hoped that they would.

"They'd carry that with them, naturally," he said. "Well, it doesn't
make much difference. We--"

On the word there was a noise outside. They stopped, listening. Down
the steps by which they had entered came footsteps, and they first saw
heavy boots and then a pair of stout legs come into the range of the
lantern. For a moment they were rooted to the spot, and in that moment
the rest of the descending figure came into view, and they saw that it
was Raymond. In the same moment he saw them, and cried out sharply,
fear and anger mingled in his voice. That ended the spell that had
held them still. Arthur started a rush toward the newcomer, but Paul
caught his arm.

"No! Upstairs!" he cried.

As he spoke, he seized the lantern from the hook where it hung, and
swung it around, extinguishing the feeble flame at once. And then, as
Raymond with a roar of rage started toward them, he flung the lantern
straight at him. A cry of pain told him that his aim had been true,
even in the darkness, and then he leaped up the stairs after Arthur,
who was already fumbling at the bolt. In a moment they were through
the door and had burst into the midst of the astonished soldiers in the
taproom above.

For just a moment their sudden appearance caused excitement and
confusion among the soldiers, who must have imagined that this was a
surprise attack. But then some of the men, who had seen them talking
with Major Kellner earlier in the day, recognized them and a shout of
laughter went up.

"It is only those boys!" cried one soldier. "Here, you young ones, you
must stay to supper, now that you have come!"

He seized Paul and forced him into a chair, while another did as much
for Arthur.

"Come, landlord, your best for our guests!" cried half a dozen of the
soldiers.

Marcel, the landlord, who evidently knew o