"Be careful not to miss your aim, and put sufficient of strength into the blow to bring down your man. Hiram will send the Tories in first, as a matter of course."
Then, with all the blood in my body seemingly surging into my head, I opened the door, and on the instant heard Hiram say in an exceedingly friendly tone:
"Enter, good sirs. Master Lord will return within a short time to conclude the business concerning which you squabbled the other night."
These words were spoken, no doubt, to warn Archie and me that there could be no question as to the character of those to whom they were addressed, and I raised the leg of the stool high above my head, understanding full well that if we failed of overcoming them at the onset, our race in Boston town had come to a speedy end.
Unfortunately it so chanced that both Archie and I struck at the man who was in the lead, and the fellow had no more than got well across the threshold when he pitched headlong, as an ox falls under the axe of the butcher.
Even as this was done I could see that the second man attempted to leap backward, a cry of fear escaping his lips, and my heart grew cold, for it needed not any one should tell me that if he succeeded in giving us the slip the lobster backs would soon learn what kind of a trick we had striven to play.
I might have understood, however, that Hiram Griffin stood in readiness to guard against any such danger, and even as the fear came into my heart he had leaped upon the shoulders of the fellow who strove to turn back, the weight of his body sending both himself and his captive into the room.
A fourth figure leaped nimbly in and aided me in closing the door, therefore I understood that the game at the Bridewell had been played without an error, for it could be none other than Silas Brownrigg who followed Hiram so closely.
There was no time for greetings or rejoicing; but I did delay sufficiently long to ask in a low tone:
"Were there only two?"