ow, and plenty of 'em!" says he, shaking
the man as a dog shakes a rat. "Aye, go on, captain, the fun's
beginning here."

I waited to hear no more, but ran at the man who closed with little
Dolly Venn. "Dolly's is the need," said I; though in that I was
mistaken, as you shall see presently. And I do declare it was a picture
to watch that bit of a lad dancing round a hulking Dutchman, and
hitting the wind out of him as though he had been a cushion. Grunt? The
lubber grunted like a pig, and every time he stopped for want of breath
in come Master Dolly again with a lightning one which shook him like a
thunder-bolt. No "set-to" that I have seen in all my life ever pleased
me half as much; and what with crying and laughing by turns, and
singing out "Bravo, Dolly!" and dancing round the pair of them, the
sweat ran off me like rain, and I, and not little Dolly Venn, might
have been doing for the Dutchman in the shadows of that corridor.

In the end, believe me, this foreign bully turned tail and ran like a
whipped cur. It was all I could do to keep the lad from his heels.

"Next time, Dolly," cried I, holding him back roughly, "next time, lad;
we have better work to do, much better work to do. Here's Peter needing
a box for his goods--and a pretty big one, too. Is it over, Peter? Will
he be talking any more?" I asked Mister Bligh.

He answered me by pointing to a figure on the floor beside him, stark
and motionless and very still. Peter had played his part, indeed; I
knew that the gate of Czerny's house was open.

"All together, lads," said I, leading them on now with a light heart;
"all together and out of the shadows, if you please. We've another gate
to close, and then--as God's above me, I do believe we have bested
Edmond Czerny this night!"

It was something to say, a thought to thrill a man, and yet I would not
dwell upon it, remembering all that lay between us and Miss Ruth's
freedom--all that must be done in the doubtful hours before us.

"The iron ladder by which the men come in," I asked of the Italian,
suddenly, "where is that, Regnarte?"

Now, this man had been very frightened during the brawl at the
stairs-head; but, seeing the stuff we were made of, and being willing
all along to join with us (for I learned afterwards that he nursed a
private spite against Czerny), he replied to me very readily:

"The ladder is the second door, captain; yet why, since no man can go
up? I tell you that two hold it, and t