he stood on the
very edge of the cliff shelf, but kept on glancing to right and left
along the stone path, and sweeping the slope in front.

Ten minutes passed like this--ten long-drawn intervals of time--and then
the man threw up his rifle and stood ready, fully expecting an attack,
certain now that there had been good reason for the dislodgement of the
stone. For from high up on the top of one of the ranges of prison
buildings a sound rang out which sent a thrill through the watcher's
nerves.

It was the alarm bell, which might mean the escape of prisoners or an
attack from a deadly enemy; but it could not be the latter, for there
was no reflection of a fire.

"Now for it!" muttered the man, with his finger on the trigger, prepared
for the rush of a man or men, and he thought over the formula he must
utter before he fired.

"I don't want to hurt anybody," he said softly, "but no one shall drive
me over without getting something first. It's that Ratcliff Highway
chap at his games again. I wish they'd hang him or send him somewhere
else."

And he thought of a warder who had been disabled for life, and another
who was absent twelve months, both from injuries inflicted by a savage
brute whom all the men feared.

Another instant and all doubts were at an end, for there was a bright
flash, and directly after the heavy, reverberating roar of a gun.

"Sharp's the word!" said the man softly as, taught by training, his
fingers involuntarily drew forth aloud clicking from the lock of the
piece he held; and as he stood there, breathing hard, every nerve and
muscle was on the strain, for he could hear steps coming rapidly in his
direction, and they must pass him--there was no other way; and it meant
a desperate attack made by men armed with hammers and bars, perhaps only
stones, and on the warder's part duty and self defence.

"Someone's number crossed out," he muttered fiercely, for there was no
feeling of dread now.

Then a change came over him as, with an intense feeling of satisfaction,
he grasped the fact that the measured beat of feet was that of their
more disciplined men.

He challenged, and there was the reassuring response.

"Anyone been this way?" cried a sergeant breathlessly as he halted four
men.

"No."

"Three of 'em got out and half killed two warders. They came along
here, we think."

"Nobody been this way."

"Keep a sharp lookout, then. We're going on. Challenge, of course, but
if they