CHAPTER XIV
HOW BEN AND PADDY BURK MADE AWAY FROM
THE HOUSE OF DANGER
When Ben Cooper heard the two men come plunging up the crazy old stairs, his active brain at once began to cast about for a means of defense. The landlord was struggling to his feet, the blow, perhaps, having been a glancing one.
“Open the trap,” cried Ben.
Though he did not understand why, Paddy instantly did as he was bidden. And as he was doing so Ben grasped the landlord. The man struck out wildly, but the lad was behind him and held him fast.
“Down with him,” said Ben, swiftly.
And Paddy, now grasping the idea, also seized the man; with a heave they raised him from his feet. The woman shrieked and strove to climb in at the window; then the landlord shot through the trap-door full upon the oncoming men on the stairs. And this latter structure, infirm as it was, could not bear the sudden shock of the impact; with a splintering crash the supports gave way; stairway and men went down amid a cloud of dust, and a chorus of startled shouts.
Paddy Burk, as he clapped to the trap-door, laughed gleefully.
“Why, then,” said he, “he never made such a hasty going down-stairs of it in his life before. And the other two were fair surprised at his haste, by the looks of their faces when he met them.”
“You villains,” wheezed the woman, who, seeing that success was impossible, had ceased her efforts to enter by the window. “You have killed him.”
“Arrah, that would be the unlucky thing, entirely,” commented Paddy. “Sure, the like of him were intended for the gallows, and it’s a shame, so it is, that it should be cheated of him.”