"That's it. For the present we have to sit here in the passage with the kitchen door open and watch for the faint gleam of light in the courtyard. It is safe to have a light there because there are blank walls on either side. I think, I rather think, that I am going to astonish you presently."
Charlton said nothing, but from the sound of his laboured breathing it was evident that the spirit of adventure was upon him. They sat there for some time with the two doors open, so that they might see through the grimy windows into the courtyard beyond. It was weary work, and the minutes passed slowly.
"I'm not a patient man," Lawrence muttered, "but I could manage with a cigarette. Under the circumstances, perhaps I had better not."
Charlton's heavy breathing ceased for a moment.
"I have good sight," he said. "And unless I am greatly mistaken I saw a figure cross the dim light given by yonder window. There it is again."
It was like a shadow and quite as noiseless. Lawrence pressed the slide of his repeater. The rapid little pulse beat twelve and then stopped.
"Between midnight and a quarter past," he muttered. "That's about the time. We had better creep a little closer to the window. That's one advantage of being in a house in the dark--you can see everything that is going on outside without being spotted by anybody. Come along and see what you shall see."
They reached the kitchen window and looked out. There was a figure there, and what looked like another one in the background. A lantern stood on the flags; the first figure pitched something on the ground that looked like a coil of rope.
"What on earth is that?" Charlton asked.
"A rope," Lawrence replied. "Can't you guess what that rope is for?"