‘Hold hard there, hoss,’ said one of them. ‘Don’t shut that door again, my fine fellow, if you please.’
‘Ah, indeed!’ said Blodget, as he closed the door; but he was not quite quick enough, for a stick that one of the officers had with him had been pushed through the opening, and prevented the door from closing.
‘Ha, ha! it won’t do,’ cried the officer.
Blodget laid hold of the stick and called upon the others to do so. By their united force they pulled it out of the officer’s hand, half dislocating his wrist as he did so, for he had tied it with a strip of dry hide to his arm.
The door was closed in another minute, but it was only held by the lock, for Blodget had cut the bolts and had broken the chain, so that his situation with his four companions was anything but a very agreeable one.
‘Oh!’ said Ben, ‘I do begin to think as we have all dropped in for it at last.’
‘Not at all,’ said Blodget.
‘Not at all, captain? Why how the deuce are we to get out of this mess?’
‘I don’t call it a mess. There are two ways out of a house; one at the street door, and the other at the roof. Follow me.’
‘What, upstairs again?’