He took the sawed off shotgun, opened the breech, and in a moment had hopelessly shattered the firing mechanism.
"There, do you see? They'll find their guns—but they'll have trouble in firing them! That's better than taking them away, because it's so much safer."
"Oh, I should say so!"
They were busy for five minutes getting out the guns, of which there were only a dozen all told, breaking them and then putting them back. They left the place as they found it, and the guns themselves, moreover, would not immediately give up the secret of how they had been treated.
"I wonder if we can't find the ammunition?" said Paul, when they had finished their work with the guns. "Then we could really finish the job."
But the search for that proved vain. Though they looked everywhere they came upon no hidden store of bullets or powder. Nor had Paul really hoped that they would.
"They'd carry that with them, naturally," he said. "Well, it doesn't make much difference. We—"
On the word there was a noise outside. They stopped, listening. Down the steps by which they had entered came footsteps, and they first saw heavy boots and then a pair of stout legs come into the range of the lantern. For a moment they were rooted to the spot, and in that moment the rest of the descending figure came into view, and they saw that it was Raymond. In the same moment he saw them, and cried out sharply, fear and anger mingled in his voice. That ended the spell that had held them still. Arthur started a rush toward the newcomer, but Paul caught his arm.
"No! Upstairs!" he cried.
As he spoke, he seized the lantern from the hook where it hung, and swung it around, extinguishing the feeble flame at once. And then, as Raymond with a roar of rage started toward them, he flung the lantern straight at him. A cry of pain told him that his aim had been true, even in the darkness, and then he leaped up the stairs after Arthur, who was already fumbling at the bolt. In a moment they were through the door and had burst into the midst of the astonished soldiers in the taproom above.