"Taunt them, if you deem it advisable. Do what you can to egg them on so that they will dash forward as much in a body as possible."
"I begin to understand what you want, I think."
"The thing I want is to get as many of them as possible on the stairs at the same time. That is, I want all of them, if possible, lined along the stairs between the ground floor and this one when I turn on the current. In that case I can hold them all."
"But there will be some of them who are so crowded that they will not be grasping the rail, and therefor will not feel the shock."
"My dear senator, haven't you noticed that there are two strips on the stairs themselves? The men who do not touch the rail with their hands will, in all probability, be standing upon one of the strips or, if not that, will be touching one of the men who is in contact with the 'live' wire; and, besides, once I get them in the house, the wires run in so many places that I don't thin that one of them will escape contact with it."
"What do you suppose is keeping them waiting? why don't they make the attack?"
It was strange- the silence that had ensued.
"They will come on, in a minute," replied the detective. "They may be awaiting a signal of some sort form the other house; or our passivity may have alarmed them."
"Hark! They are coming again now."
It was true.