“That should have finished ’em!” they could hear Snackley saying. “If they’re on the stairs at all they’re as dead as mutton by now.”
“Best be careful,” muttered one of the men. “Hardy has a gun.”
“Where did he get it?”
“From the guard. They tied him up.”
“Lucky they didn’t get away altogether. Wait till I talk to Malloy!”
“He was tied fast to the bed when we came back up the stairs. They had taken his gun and gagged him. He said they had just gone, so we made after them and came up through the trapdoor. They were just getting out of the shed when we saw ’em.”
“What a fine chase we would have had if they had got out into the woods. Well, we have ’em trapped now.”
Whispers followed. The boys listened. Once they heard some one say:
“The back stairs—”
Frank turned to his father.