"There is no doubt that they will search this garden, for the broken wall will suggest the means by which we eluded them."
"They will not enter there, but by the regular entrance in front of the house. What do you think? Is there any hope?"
Passing his strong arm around her waist, he drew her closer to him, held her thus a moment, pressed his lips to hers and in a low, loving, but firm voice said:
"Marian, I do not believe that we shall be alive fifteen minutes longer."
"Baird, will you do me a favor—the last that I can ask?"
"I will refuse you nothing in my power to grant."
"When all hope of escape is gone, will you shoot me dead?"
"I will," was the instant response that escaped the white lips, "and that reminds me," he added the next moment, "that one of my pistols is unloaded."
And while they stood in the heavy shadow of a mango tree, he deliberately recharged the five chambers of his revolver, as though he was making ready to engage in a shooting match with a friend.
Meanwhile the rabble on the other side of the wall was increasing in numbers every minute. Some of the most significant of their expressions were translated by Marian.