"Remove these irons and place me before the window," commanded the other. "That will quiet them."
"And make terms with a pack of rioters?" smiled Ned.
"You can save your life, and the lives of your friends, in no other way," insisted the other.
Ned went to the window again, although bricks and stones were flying quite freely. The ladders swarmed with excited men, but no one seemed able to gain entrance at the windows which were attacked.
Instead, a ladder now and then went toppling backward, carrying dozens of rioters to death or injury. When the ladders began falling the mob moved away from that side of the street.
"You see," Ned said to the prisoner, "that we were on the lookout for something like this."
"How could you have been?" gasped the other.
"Our interpreter heard some of the messages sent out by mouth by the revolutionists. I connected your possible capture with the gathering. We were warned and made ready."
"But my men will soon be here!" shouted the other. "They are sworn to go to death for the cause if necessary."
"But I don't see them doing anything of the kind," Ned replied. "On the contrary, they seem to be taking pretty good care of their yellow old hides!"