In the Name of the People

by Arthur W. Marchmont

It was probable that either the three men had had keys or that the door was to be opened only in response to some agreed knock. I did not know it, of course, and might stay there rapping all night without being admitted.

Both Inez and Miralda would be intensely alarmed by the failure of the three men to return and if they had heard Barosa’s shot or had seen anything of the commotion that followed, they would certainly conclude that the three had been arrested and mistake my summons for that of the police bent upon effecting an arrest.

It was a most provoking and unexpected check. I left the door and fumbled my way round to the back to try and get admittance there. I was no expert at burgling, but even if I had been I should have been puzzled how to get into this house. There was a door at the back letting out upon a small garden; but it was securely fastened, and every window in the lower part of the house was protected by both outside bars and inside shutters. It was hopeless to try and force them.

There was a stack pipe running up to the gutter at the roof; but it was so placed that if I climbed it I could not reach any window except one on the top floor; and an attempt to enter that way meant a very considerable risk that I should break my neck. There was no urgent necessity to run such a risk, so I went round again to the front of the house to look for a chance of getting in there.

It was no more promising than the back, so far as the windows within reach were concerned.

It was almost ludicrous to find myself in such a fix. Here was I able and eager to save both Inez and Miralda; and there were they shivering with panic and regarding me as an enemy bent on their destruction and arrest; and only this infernal locked door and the barred windows between us.

I tried knocking again, but with no better result than before, and then it occurred to me that although I had examined the front and the back and one side, I had not inspected the fourth side.

The chances of breaking in there were better. There was a small projection built about half-way up the house with a window level with the first floor, which did not appear to have either shutters or bars. A stack pipe offered a chance of reaching this window, and although the pipe was unpleasantly insecure I judged that even if it gave way I could not hurt myself much, as there was a flower bed with some shrubs on the spot where I should fall.

I began the ascent very cautiously, digging my toes into the courses of the bricks where I could, and carefully testing the bearing strain of the pipe before trusting my full weight on it. It was a very difficult business, for part of my disguise consisted of a long overcoat which hampered almost every step I took.

But I made the ascent safely and managed to get a grip of the window ledge, and then, pulling myself up till my chin was level with the window, I found a slender but sufficient hold for my feet on a ledge of the brickwork.