but they had divided their
forces, and were coming at different quarters. It remained to be seen
at which spot their main attack was to be delivered. I put my revolver
through one of the holes we had drilled in the door, and fired. It was
impossible to say if my shot took effect, but I hoped so, and I heard
the sound of Lane's repeater at the farther end. The blows on the door
were redoubled, and it seemed to me to be yielding. I emptied two more
cartridges through the hole at a venture, and that one went home I
knew, since I had touched a body with the muzzle as I pulled the trigger.
Ellison was on guard in the saloon below, and Grant and the cook in the
music saloon; and I judged from the sounds that reached me in the
_melee_ that they also were at work. By this time Barraclough and
Jackson and the Prince had arrived on the scene, the last with a lantern
which he swung over his head. Barraclough joined me, and Jackson was
despatched to grope his way into the saloon to assist Ellison. The Prince
himself took his station with Lane, and I heard the noise of his weapon
several times. My door had not yet given way, but I was afraid of those
swinging blows, and both Barraclough and I continued to fire. The
corridor filled with smoke and the smell of powder.

"Do you think he's made up his mind to get through here?" asked
Barraclough.

"I don't know," I shouted back. "He's attacking in three places, at any
rate. We can't afford to neglect any one of them."

"Confound this darkness!" he exclaimed furiously. "Oh, for an hour of
dawn!"

The blows descended on the door, but still it held, and I began to
wonder why. Surely a body of men with axes should have destroyed the
flimsy boards by this time. It looked as if this was not the real
objective of the attack. I sprang to the bolt and was drawing it when
Barraclough called out, for he could see in the dim light of the
lantern.

"Good heavens, man, are you mad?"

"No," I called back. "Stand ready to fire. I believe there's practically
no one behind this"; and, having now released the bolt, I flung open
the door. Simultaneously Barraclough fired through the open darkness,
and a body took the deck heavily, floundering on the threshold. The
rest was silence. No one was visible or audible. But at my feet lay two
bodies.

"I thought so," I said excitedly. "This was mere bluff. And so's the
attack on Lane's door. See, there's no force there. I will settle
that."

I deliver