“What can that be?” he exclaimed nervously.
The next moment the room door was thrust open and the young fellow who had played the part of informer rushed in.
“The police!” he gasped. “The house is surrounded. All the rest have gone.”
Barosa did not turn a hair, but Maral, suddenly grey with fear, tossed up his hands and dropped into his chair with a sigh of despair.
“Are they really the police this time?” I asked.
He nodded. “More of the same man’s work,” he said with grim concentrated passion, and carried away for the moment by his feelings, he clenched his fists and uttered a vehement oath.
I should have sworn too, no doubt, if I had been in his place. But I was thinking of myself and what I was going to do.
It was a tight corner for us all.
In the pause the knocking was repeated more noisily and peremptorily than before.