In a
glance I saw that we were directly opposite an open doorway; with
a whispered word to Harry I sprang across the corridor and within
the room. He followed.
Inside were a woman and two children. As we entered they looked
up, startled, and stood gazing at us in terror. For an instant we
held back, but there was nothing else for it; and in another
minute we had overpowered and bound and gagged them and carried
them to a corner.
The children were ugly little devils and the woman very little
above a brute; still we handled them as tenderly as possible.
Then we crouched against the wall where we could not be seen from
the corridor, and waited.
Soon the patter of many footsteps reached our ears. They passed;
others came, and still others. For many minutes the sound
continued steadily, unbroken, while we sat huddled up against the
wall, scarcely daring to breathe.
Immediately in front of me lay the forms of the woman and the
children; I could see their dull eyes, unblinking, looking up at
me in abject terror. Still the patter of footsteps sounded from
without, with now and then an interval of quiet.
Struck by a sudden thought, I signaled to Harry; and when he had
moved further back into his corner I sprang across the room in
one bound to his side.
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