his worn face bloated and distorted
with his passion. Neither of us spoke; we were past the stage; but in
the grate the gas fire burnt with a low reproving roar. And then all at
once I saw Uvo turn his head as though his sensitive ear had caught some
other sound; his raised hand swept down upon the handle of the door; and
as he softly opened it, the other hand was raised in token of silence,
and for one splendid second I looked into a face no longer possessed by
the devil, but radiant with the keenest joy.

Then I was at his elbow, and our ears bent together at the open door.
Gas was burning on the landing as well as in the hall below; everything
seemed normal to every sense. I was obliged to breathe before another
sound came from any quarter but that noisy stove in the room behind us.
And then it was more a vibration of the floor, behind the curtains of
the half-landing, than an actual sound. But that was enough; back we
stole into Uvo's room.

"They've come," he whispered, simply. "They're in the bathroom--now!"

"I heard."

"We'll go for them!"

"Of course."

He reached down the very weapon he had meant for my skull a minute
before. It was a great club, studded with brass-headed nails, and also a
most murderous battle-axe, so that the same whirl might fell one foe and
cleave another. I had taken it from Uvo, and his dancing eyes were
thanking me as he loaded the revolver I had handed him in exchange.

There were three stairs down to the half-landing, but Uvo sat up too
late at nights not to know the one that creaked. We reached the old
maroon curtain without a sound; behind it was the housemaid's sink on
the right, and straight in front the bathroom door with a faint light
under it. But the light went out before we reached it, and then the door
would not open, and with that there was a smothered hubbub of voices and
of feet within. It was like the first shot from an ambuscade, but it was
our ambuscade, and Uvo's voice rang out in triumph.

"Down with the door or the devils'll do us yet!"

And they sounded as though they might before bolt or hinges gave. As we
brought all our weight to bear, we could hear them huddling out of the
window, and somebody whispering sharply, "One at a time; one at a time!"
And at that my companion relaxed his efforts inexplicably, but I flew at
the key-hole with flat foot and every ounce of my weight behind it; the
crash fined off into the scream of splintered wood, and I should