“You have?”
“Yes. She’s here in company with her brother. Has been here several days. Day before yesterday two boys and an old man joined them.”
“Oh, I’ve noticed that party. And they say this girl caused all the trouble?”
“Yes. Some of the rest of the party were concerned in the murder of the Pasha. The crowd outside is demanding that this girl and her friends be given up. If the proprietor will surrender them it is possible the rest of us may escape with our lives.”
“Then we had better unite in urging him to give that party up. It’s a case of self-preservation, and——”
“I favor it myself.”
Dick had slipped quietly down the stairs, and now he suddenly confronted the two men. His face was pale, but his dark eyes flashed.
“I have a few words to say to you,” he said, his voice low but clear and steady. “I don’t know where you hail from, but I do know that you are two of the most contemptible cowards it has ever been my bad fortune to chance upon. No one but cowards would think of surrendering an innocent and helpless girl into the hands of a maddened and murderous mob, like the one outside this hotel.”
Having expressed himself in this manner, the fearless American lad stood squarely facing them both.
There was a hush.