for he toppled
over and the thing went off with a flash and roar."

Mr. Spenlove relinquished his leisurely pacing to and fro under the
awning and sat down sideways on his camp-stool to roll and light a
cigarette. His reflections while this was accomplished remained
undisturbed, and his attitude conveyed an impression that he was
listening with considerable bitterness to some imaginary reproaches from
which he suddenly attempted to defend himself.

"Not so easy," he muttered, flicking the match into the scupper. "Not so
easy! Suppose I had suddenly broken out of that doorway and made off up
the street? There is no reasonable grounds for doubt that the officer
who was directing that little squad of disciplined men was the person
who afterward gained the White Tower and held the city barrier and the
sea-front until fresh troops arrived to overpower the apostles of
liberty. Suppose, I say, I had suddenly scared him by bolting up that
narrow street? No, not so easy. And yet it wasn't easy, either, to
remain even as long as I did. For at a word from him the kneeling men
raised their rifles and fired once, twice--a crescendo of crashes
reverberating from the buildings opposite. And then they all ran
diagonally across the street into the shadows, and for a space there was
silence.

"And even then," went on Mr. Spenlove, "I did not run. Not from courage,
you understand, but fear. I tip-toed out of my doorway and walked
quickly up the street without making any noise. I was preoccupied with
the question of getting back to the ship. We should have to walk. I
tried to lay out the city in my mind. If we walked upward say, and
struck a street going westward and parallel with the _Via Egnatia_, we
might eventually strike another thoroughfare running down to the port. I
was thinking this out as I hurried. I considered the wisdom of remaining
indoors until the morning, and I believe now that is what I would have
done eventually, anyhow. I looked back several times. The electric
globe, hanging high, had gone out or been put out, and there were no
lights in any of the houses. I imagined the inmates sitting silently
behind their shutters, listening and waiting for a renewal of the
uproar. You must understand that I was experiencing nothing more than a
very natural exaltation of nerves, with an undertow of anxiety for the
ship. I pictured Jack in a great state, wondering where I was, a state
probably complicated by the scandalized Tonde