Once more he heard men ascending the stairs. Instantly he dashed across the floor, finding the door in the darkness.
"Halt!" he cried savagely, from behind the closed door. "Halt, or I fire!"
Then he sought to prop the door with the iron bar, pressing it down in such a position that it might hold for some moments against an ordinary attack upon it.
"I'll shoot the first man who tries to open this door!" he shouted.
But he did not remain there to await an effort to open the door. Instead he quickly found the girl in the corner, lifted her limp body, and sought the window once more.
Reaching the window, Frank promptly kicked out sash and glass with two movements of his foot.
Bang! bang! bang!—sounded heavy blows on the door behind him, but the iron bar was holding well.
Merry swung his leg over the window-ledge. Desperate as he was, he meant to venture a leap from the window to the ground with the girl in his arms.
But just then, pausing to look down, he was amazed and delighted to see below him his four friends, who were on the point of entering the building, led by Bart Hodge. Instantly Frank hailed them.