Suddenly there was a smash of glass, the lamp fell into fragments and the place was plunged into darkness. Scanlon, who was next to Ashton-Kirk, felt him spring forward like a tiger; then came a sharp pistol shot, followed by another and still another.
CHAPTER VI
IN WHICH ASHTON-KIRK INDICATES MUCH BUT SAYS LITTLE
“A LIGHT!” cried Campe. “Strike a light, Kretz.”
“No light,” said Bat Scanlon, softly. “It is no time for such things when an unknown gentleman is about with a gun! And keep still.”
The sergeant-major grunted something in German, apparently in approval of this advice. At any rate, Campe subsided. There was a space of silence. Then a footstep sounded; and Bat arose.
“That you, Kirk?” asked he.
“Yes,” came the quiet voice of the crime specialist. “I think it’s all right now. Is there any way of getting a light?”
A match crackled, then Kretz produced a candle stump from a niche in the wall. This he ignited. Ashton-Kirk came into the dim circle of radiance.
“I’ll not ask whether you saw anybody,” said Scanlon. “But,” anxiously, “did you feel anything of him?”
“It’s rather wild firing in the dark,” returned the crime specialist. “And, perhaps,” here there was a dryness in his tone, “that’s what kept us from being more or less shot up.”