I

'What shall we do?' said Audrey.

She looked at me hopefully, as if I were a mine of ideas. Her voice was level, without a of in it. Women have the gift of being at times when they might give way. It is part of their unexpectedness.

This was such an occasion. Daylight would us relief, for I did not that Buck MacGinnis would to a which might be by the of tradesmen's carts; but while the we were cut off from the world. With the of the telephone wire our only link with had been snapped. Even had the night been less than it was, there was no of the noise of our the ears of anyone who might come to the rescue. It was as Sam had said, Buck's energy to his strategy a combination.

Broadly speaking, there are only two open to a garrison. It can where it is, or it can make a sortie. I the second of these courses.

It was possible that Sam and his had in the to reinforcements, the clear; in which case, by from the house at once, we might be able to through the and the village in safety. To support this there was the that the car, on its late visit, had only the and the two ambassadors, while Sam had spoken of the of Buck's as being in to attack in the event of my not to terms. That might that they were waiting at Buck's headquarters, those might be—at one of the the road, I imagined; and, in the the attack began, it might be possible for us to make our with success.

'Is Ogden in bed?' I asked.

'Yes.'

'Will you go and him up as as you can?'

I my at the window, but it was to see anything. The rain was still heavily. If the drive had been full of men they would have been to me.

Presently Audrey returned, by Ogden. The Little Nugget was the of one from his sleep.

'What's all this?' he demanded.

'Listen,' I said. 'Buck MacGinnis and Smooth Sam Fisher have come after you. They are now. Don't be frightened.'

He derisively.

'Who's frightened? I they won't me. How do you know it's them?'

'They have just been here. The man who called himself White, the butler, was Sam Fisher. He has been waiting an opportunity to you all the term.'

'White! Was he Sam Fisher?' He admiringly. 'Say, he's a wonder!'

'They have gone to the of the gang.'

'Why don't you call the cops?'

'They have cut the wire.'

His only at the news to be and a for Smooth Sam. He broadly, the little brute.

'He's a wonder!' he repeated. 'I he's smooth, all right. He's the limit! He'll me all right this trip. I you a he out.'

I his trying. That he, the of all the trouble, should be so it as a got up for his entertainment, was hard to bear. And the that, might to myself, he was in no danger, me not at all. If I have that we were in any way in peril, I might have looked on the boy with a eye. As it was, I nearly him.

'We had waste no time,' Audrey, 'if we are going.'

'I think we ought to try it,' I said.

'What's that?' asked the Nugget. 'Go where?'

'We are going to out through the way and try to through to the village.'

The Nugget's on the was and to the point. He did not me with of my genius.

'Of all the games!' he said simply. 'In this rain? No, sir!'

This new was too much for me. In out my I had taken his for granted. I had looked on him as so much baggage—the of the army. And, behold, a mutineer!

I took him by the of the and him. It was a to my and a move. The was one which he understood.

'Oh, all right,' he said. 'Anything you like. Come on. But it to me like foolishness!'

If nothing else had to the success of that sortie, the Nugget's would have done so. Of all things, it to me, a should be with a and if it is to have a of being successful. Ogden a over the from the start. He was and sleepy, and he the unequivocally. As we moved the door he up a of comment. I him the door, but he had said to my spirits. I do not know what it would have had on Napoleon's if his army—say, Austerlitz—had spoken of his as a 'fool game' and of himself as a 'big chump', but I if it would have him.

The door of Sanstead House opened on to a narrow yard, with and in on all but one by walls. To the left was the where the was stored, a building: to the right a that appeared to have been by the in an of pure whimsicality. It just there. It no purpose that I had been able to discover, to act as a cats' club-house.

Tonight, however, I was for this wall. It an piece of cover. By in its it was possible to work the of the coal-shed, enter the stable-yard, and, by making a across the football field, avoid the drive altogether. And it was the drive, in my opinion, that might be looked on as the zone.

The Nugget's complaints, which I had succeeded in checking, out as the rain in at the open door and our faces. Certainly it was not an night for a ramble. The wind was through the opening at the end of the with a to the space. There was a in our position of the Cave of the Winds under Niagara Falls, the of which was by the of water that from the above our heads. The Nugget it unpleasant, and said so shrilly.

I pushed him out into the storm, still protesting, and we to across the yard. Half-way to the point of of our journey, the of the coal-shed, I the expedition. There was a in the wind, and I took of it to listen.

From the wall, near the house, the note of the automobile. The siege-party had returned.

There was no time to be lost. Apparently the possibility of a had not yet to Sam, or he would have left the door unguarded; but a of his was to the mistake soon, and our of action might be a thing of moments. It us to the stable-yard as as possible. Once there, we should be through the enemy's lines.

Administering a to the Nugget, who a to and talk about the weather, I moved on, and we the of the coal-shed in safety.

We had now at the stage in our journey. Having his to a point level with the end of the coal-shed, the had of the thing and it up; for it abruptly, us with a of a dozen yards of open ground to cross, with nothing to screen us from the on the drive. The flagstones, moreover, stopped at this point. On the open space was gravel. Even if the allowed us to make the unseen, there was the that we might be heard.

It was a moment for a of inspiration, and I was waiting for one, when that which took the problem out of my hands. From the of the on our left there came a of over coal, and through the square opening in the wall, designed for the peaceful purpose of taking in sacks, two men. A pistol cracked. From the drive came an shout. We had been ambushed.

I had Sam. He had not the possibility of a sortie.

It is the of life that turn the in a crisis. The opening through which the men had was a of yards the spot where we were standing. If they had and their feet, they would have been on us we have moved. But Fortune ordered it that, discretion, the of the two should catch his in the and on all fours, while the second, unable to check his spring, on top of him, and, from the which followed, must have him in the face.

In the moment of their I was able to a plan and it.

'The stables!'

I the to Audrey in the act of up the Nugget and starting to run. She understood. She did not in the direction of the house for the which might have us, but was with me at once; and we were across the open space and in the stable-yard the of the men in the drive up through the darkness. Half of the double-gate of the was open, and the other us as a shield. They as they ran—at random, I think, for it was too dark for them to have us clearly—and two against the gate. A third the above our and off into the night. But they fire again we were in the stables, the door us, and I had the Nugget on the floor, and was the into their places. Footsteps over the and stopped outside. Some against the door. Then there was silence. The was over.

The stables, as is the case in most English country-houses, had been, in its days, the of Sanstead House. In other respect the British of that period may have short, he his work on the stables. He them and solid, with to the of the weather, and possibly those of men as well, for the Boones in their day had been owners of race-horses at a time when men with money at did not at trifles, and it was to see to it that the spot where the was had something of the nature of a fortress. The were thick, the door solid, the with iron. We have a of refuge.

Under Mr Abney's rule, the had their original character. They had been into three compartments, each by a wall. One a gymnasium, another the carpenter's shop, the third, in which we were, a stable, though in these days no set it, its only use being to provide a place for the odd-job man to clean shoes. The which had once were over now to and of polish. In term-time, were in the loose-box which had once to the of Derby favourites.

I about among the and brushes, and a candle-end, which I lit. I was a risk, but it was necessary to our ground. I had to this before, and I to put myself in touch with its geography.

I out the candle, well with what I had seen. The only two were small, high up, and barred. Even if the enemy through them there were a dozen where we should be perfectly safe. Best of all, in the event of the door being by assault, we had a second line of in a loft. A against the to it, by way of a trap-door. Circumstances had been to us in us to this shelter.

On my inspection, I aware that the Nugget was still with his grievances. I think the must have his nerve centres, for he had the with which, in moments, he was to on life's happenings, and was with the with a briskness.

'Of all the lay-outs I struck, this is the limit. What do those think they're doing, us up that way? It an of my head. It might have killed me. Gee, and I'm all wet. I'm cold. It's all through your foolishness, us out here. Why couldn't we in the house?'

'We not have them out of the house for five minutes,' I explained. 'We can this place.'

'Who wants to it? I don't. What it if they do me? I don't care. I've a good mind to walk out through that door and let them rope me in. It would Dad right. It would teach him not to send me away from home to any again. What did he want to do it for? I was all right where I was. I—'

A loud on the door cut off his eloquence. The was over, and the second had begun.

It was dark in the now that I had out the candle, and there is something about a of noise and which the nerves. If mine had steady, I should have the hammering. From the sound, it appeared to be by some instrument—a from the carpenter's shop I later—and the door be on to its own without my intervention. For a to violence, however, to maintain a of is the most difficult of all. I was and by the noise, and its importance. It to me that it must be stopped at once.

A moment before, I had my against an empty packing-case, which had its way with other into the stable. I for this, it into position the window, and, on it, looked out. I the catch of the window, and opened it. There was nothing to be seen, but the of the more distinct; and pushing an arm through the bars, I my pistol at a venture.

As a practical move, the action had flaws. The cannot have gone near their target. But as a demonstration, it was a success. The full of dancing bullets. They the flagstones, off, the of the wall, from those, in all directions, and in a manner calculated to the hearted.

The siege-party did not stop to argue. They as one man. I them across the to every point of the compass. In a prevailed, only by the of the rain. Round two had been brief, to be called a at all, and, like one, it had ended in our favour.

I jumped from my packing-case, with pride. I had had no previous of this of thing, yet here I was the like a veteran. I that I had a right to triumphant. I the again, and upon the garrison.

The Nugget was on the floor, feebly, and for the moment into silence. Audrey, in the corner, looked but composed. Her was perfect. There was nothing for her to do, and she was doing it with a self-control which my admiration. Her manner to me to the of the situation. With a super-competent dare-devil like myself in of affairs, all she had to do was to wait and not in the way.

'I didn't anybody,' I announced, 'but they ran like rabbits.

They are all over Hampshire.'

I laughed indulgently. I an of the enemy.

'Will they come back?'

'Possibly. And in that case'—I in my left-hand coat-pocket—'I had be ready.' I in my right-hand coat-pocket. 'Ready,' I blankly. A took of me. My voice off into nothingness. For in neither pocket was There a single one of the with which I had that I was provided. In moments of man is to make mistakes. I had mine when, starting out on the sortie, I had left all my in the house.

II

I should like to think that it was an to my that me keep my to myself. But I am that my was more to the that I from the Nugget my carelessness. Even in times of one one's weaknesses; and I that I not his comments. If he had permitted a note of to into his already, the from the of the he would now should I the truth.

I to make with optimism.

'They won't come back!' I said stoutly, and to it.

The Nugget as the note.

'Well, then, let's it,' he said. 'I don't want to the night in this icehouse. I tell you I'm cold. My chest's weak. If you're so you've them away, let's quit.'

I was not prepared to go as as this.

'They may be near, hiding.'

'Well, what if they are? I don't mind being kidnapped. Let's go.'

'I think we ought to wait,' said Audrey.

'Of course,' I said. 'It would be to go out now.'

'Oh, pshaw!' said the Little Nugget; and from this point the with a cough.

I had that my had the to a end. I that there would be some the of hostilities, but I was too well with Buck MacGinnis's to that he would his a had spread panic in his ranks. He had all the night him, and sooner or later he would return.

I had him correctly. Many minutes by without a from the enemy, then, at the window, I the and voices talking in undertones. The was on once more.

A light through the window, the opening and in a wide circle on the ceiling. It was not difficult to what had happened. They had gone to the and come with one of the head-lamps, an move in which I to see the of Sam. The danger-spot thus harmless, they their attack on the door with a vigour. The had been by some instrument—of iron this time. I think it must have been the from the automobile. It was a more than the mallet, and our good door under it.

A of me that the time had come to to our second line of entrenchments. How long the door would it was to say, but I if it was more than a of minutes.

Relighting my candle, which I had from of economy, I Audrey's and my the ladder.

'You go first,' I whispered.

The Nugget her through the trap-door, then to me with an air of resolution.

'If you think you're going to me up there, you've another coming. I'm going to wait here till they in, and let them take me. I'm about of this foolishness.'

It was no time for argument. I him, a kicking handful, him to the ladder, and pushed him through the opening. He one of his squeals. The to the like a trumpet-blast. The on the door redoubled.

I the and the trap-door me.

The air of the was close and and of hay. It was not the of spot which one would have of one's own free will to in for any length of time. There was a noise, and a across the floor, a from Audrey and a 'Oh, piffle!' from the Nugget. Whatever this final might have as a stronghold, it was question a place.

The on the stable-door was up to a crescendo. Presently there came a crash that the on which we sat and sent our neighbours, the rats, to and in a perfect of perturbation. The light of the lamp in through the and which the passage of time had in the old boards. There was one large near the centre which produced a of effect, and allowed us for the time to see what manner of place it was in which we had ourselves. The was high and spacious. The must have been some seven above our heads. I without difficulty.

In the us there had come a lull. The of our had not the enemy for long, for almost the of the lamp had and to play on the trap-door. I somebody climb the ladder, and the trap-door as a hand it. I had taken up a position it, ready, if the gave way, to do what I with the of my pistol, my only weapon. But the bolt, though rusty, was strong, and the man to the ground again. Since then, for occasional of conversation, I had nothing.

Suddenly Sam's voice spoke.

'Mr Burns!'

I saw no in silent.

'Well?'

'Haven't you had of this? You've us a good for our money, but you can see for that you're through now. I'd like anything for you to hurt. Pass the kid down, and we'll call it off.'

He paused.

'Well?' he said. 'Why don't you answer?'

'I did.'

'Did you? I didn't you.'

'I smiled.'

'You to it out? Don't be foolish, sonny. The boys here are at you already. What's the use of in for nothing? We've got you in a pocket. I know all about that gun of yours, fellow. I had a what had happened, and I've been into the house and the you to take with you. So, if you were of making a in that direction it!'

The had the I had anticipated.

'Of all the chumps!' the Nugget caustically. 'You ought to be in a home. Well, I you'll agree to end this now? Let's go and it over and have some peace. I'm pneumonia.'

'You're right, Mr Fisher,' I said. 'But don't I still have the pistol, if I haven't the shells. The man who to come up here will have a tomorrow.'

'I shouldn't bank on it, sonny. Come along, kiddo! You're done. Be good, and own it. We can't wait much longer.'

'You'll have to try.'

Buck's voice in on the discussion, that it was wrathful.

'Oh well!' I Sam say resignedly, and then there was again below.

I my watch over the trap-door, encouraged. This parleying, I thought, was an of failure on the part of the besiegers. I did not Sam with a for my welfare—thereby doing him an injustice. I can see now that he spoke perfectly sincerely. The position, though I was of it, was hopeless, for the that, like most positions, it had a as well as a front. In the possibilities of attack, I had as only from below. I had from my calculations the that the had a roof.

It was a on the tiles above my that the new danger-point to my notice. There the of hammering, and with it came a of the truth of what Sam had said. We were beaten.

I was too by the of the attack to any plan; and, indeed, I do not think that there was anything that I have done. I was and helpless. I there, waiting for the inevitable.

Affairs moved swiftly. Plaster on to the floor. I was aware that the Nugget was speaking, but I did not to him.

A appeared in the and widened. I the of the man as he at the tiles.

And then the arrived, with so upon it that the two were almost simultaneous. I saw the on the himself in the opening, up like some ape. The next moment he had sprung.

As his touched the there came a rending, crash; the air was with a dust, and he was gone. The old out had under my tread. They had way in complete this onslaught. The of the lamp, which had in like of light through crevices, now in a great in the centre of the floor.

In the all was confusion. Everybody was speaking at once. The hero of the late was horribly, for which he had good reason: I did not know the of his injuries, but a man not do that of thing with impunity. The next of the of the night now occurred.

I had not been the Nugget a great of my attention for some time, other and more urgent me.

His action at this juncture, consequently, came as a complete and surprise.

I was my way the in the centre of the floor, in the of something of what was going on below, when from close me his voice screamed. 'It's me, Ogden Ford. I'm coming!' and, without warning, he ran to the hole, himself over, and dropped.

Manna from the in the a more whole-hearted welcome. Howls and and ear-splitting the air. The of talk out again. Some person of his in his pistol at the ceiling, to my discomfort, the spot he had as a to be a of where I stood. Then they moved off in a body, still cheering. The was over.

I do not know how long it was I spoke. It may have been some minutes. I was with the with which the final of the had been played out. If I had him more of my attention, I might have that Ogden had been waiting his opportunity to make some such move; but, as it was, the possibility had not to me, and I was stunned.

In the I the moving off the drive.

The me.

'Well, we may as well go,' I said dully. I the and it up. Audrey was against the wall, her white and set.

I the trap-door and her the ladder.

The rain had ceased, and the were shining. After the of the loft, the clean wet air was delicious. For a moment we stopped, by the peace and of the night.

Then, suddenly, she down.

It was the of it that me off my balance. In all the time I had her, I had Audrey in tears. Always, in the past, she had the of with a which had alternately and me, according as my mood me to think it or insensibility. In the old days, it had done much, this of hers, to a us. It had her and unapproachable. Subconsciously, I suppose, it had my that she should be able to support herself in times of trouble, and not it necessary to on me.

And now the had fallen. The old independence, the almost self-reliance, had vanished. A new Audrey had herself.

She was helplessly, still, her arms and her her. There was something in her so hopeless, so beaten, that the of it to cut me like a knife.

'Audrey!'

The in the little among the flagstones. The night was very still. Only the of water from the trees the silence.

A great of to from my mind in the world but her. Everything that had been me, me, me and since the night when our had come together again after those five long years. I Cynthia, my promise, everything.

'Audrey!'

She was in my arms, to me, my name. The was about us like a cloud.

And then she had from me, and was gone.