"But, if you'll permit me, mine is just beginning," said Mr. Pratt. "Do you suppose that I'd be content to walk meekly away, and let the pack of scoundrels who have made my house a hotbed of crime get off with the fruits of their villainy?" The old gentleman spoke warmly. "I've knocked about the world for more than thirty years, been in many tight corners, and I've never knuckled under to man, beast, or circumstance. This is the tightest of them all, and, by the Lord Harry, I'll make a fight for it. You young fellows----"
"We're with you, sir," cried Armstrong, enthusiastically.
"Rather!" exclaimed Pratt. "If you're game, Uncle Ambrose----"
"Let us keep cool," returned his uncle. "I'm no longer under any illusions as to the character of the wretches I was misguided enough to employ. They are forgers--that is bad enough--but before they were forgers they were anarchists, members of that fraternity of fools whose ideas, put into practice, would turn the world into a hell. There are no more reckless malefactors than these international gangs who exercise their criminal propensities under the cloak of political enthusiasm. Make no mistake, young fellows; in resisting Gradoff and his gang we take our lives in our hands. In their eyes we are of less value than rats."
"We've got to keep 'em out, then," said Percy.
"Let us keep cool, I repeat. Let us discuss the situation."
"Yes, sir," said Armstrong, somewhat amazed at the professional manner of the old gentleman; "but time's flying, and----"
"Therefore it is vitally important that we should focus our attention. As I read the situation, we shall have to stand a siege. Gradoff determines to save his forged notes, if not his accomplice yonder. The question is, what will he do?"
"I know what I'd do if I----" began Pratt, but his uncle silenced him with a gesture.
"What you would do is not in question. What Gradoff will do we must infer from the probabilities. His final aim must be to get away quickly with his booty. His booty is inaccessible while we hold the tower. Therefore he must either persuade or compel us to let him in. Finding persuasion, reinforced by menace, futile, he will attempt compulsion. That is to say, he will bring up all his men and try to force the door. It is useless for us to blink facts--just peep through the crack, Percy, and see if he is already moving."