“Now where are the rest of the guards?” Phil inquired.
“They’re lodged snugly in that hotel down on the corner a block over there,” replied Tim, indicating the direction with his hand. “And they’ve got some comfortable quarters, too, believe me. That hotel was hardly scratched when the bodies drove through this place. Everything was left, apparently, in the best of order by the fleeing French, and our prison guards are living like kings there. They’ve found a big store of wine in the basement and tapped several casks.”
“What’s their condition now?” asked Phil.
“About the same as these fellows out here. Tim and I looked in through a window and saw them.”
“Where are their guns?”
“Standing up in a corner right near the door,” said Tim. “We can open the door, seize the weapons and have ’em at our mercy.”
“How about the other prisoners?”
“They’re all in this building, according to my notion,” said Evans. “My guess is that they planned to put us all in there, but it got too full, and, our bunch being the overflow, they put us in the first place available.”
“Let’s go and get several of those fellows to help us,” Phil proposed. “We may not need them, but it isn’t going to do any harm to play safe. You boys wait here while I go and announce what we’ve done and bring some ‘moral reinforcements.’”
“Go ahead,” Evans assented. “Bring ’em all, if you want to. The more that come, the greater will be the moral effect, even if they haven’t any guns. But tell ’em to be mighty quiet.”