result. I dealt it a hearty kick by way of a test. The heavy timber did not budge; there was no play at all at either lock or hinges; nor did I see how I could spend one of my four remaining bullets upon the former, with any chance of a return.

“Is this the only other door?”

“Then it must be a window.”

All the back ones are barred.”

“Securely?”

“Yes.”

“Then we’ve no choice in the matter.”

And I led the way back to the hall, where the poor black devil lay blubbering in his blood. In the kitchen


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which had that sound; and that, once started, I am afraid I needed only too little encouragement to run on and on.

Well, I was set going before we got up from the table. I continued in an armchair that my host dragged from a little book-lined room adjoining the hall. I finished on my legs, my back


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