“Don't stand there rousing the town, Aurelia,” the man said. “Come in out of the rain at once. Get yourself ready to start.”
As the window banged to behind them, a figure loomed up out of the night—two figures, more. I sprang to one side; but they were too quick for me. Someone flung an old flour-sack over my head. Before I was ready to struggle I was lying flat on the pavement, with a man upon my chest.
“It's him,” said a voice. “You young rip, where are the letters?”
“What letters?” I said, struggling, choking against the folds of the sack.
“Rip up his boots,” said another. “Dig him with a knife if he won't answer.”
“Bring him in to the Colonel,” said the first.
“I've got no letters,” I said.
“Lift him up quick,” said the man who had suggested the knife. “In with him. Here's the watch.”
“Quick, boys,” the leader said. “We mustn't be caught at this game.”
Steps sounded somewhere in the square. Hearing them, I squealed with all my strength, hoping that somebody would come.