"Hark! I hear footsteps," whispered Raquel, her face pale with renewed terror.
Silencio stood still and listened.
"You are right," he said; "they are behind us. Take the lantern and hold it for me close to the keyhole." He began pushing the door into place.
She took the light from him and held it as he directed.
"Hold it steady, child. Steady!—Do not tremble so! I must see! I must! steady!"
Raquel's hand shook as if with a palsy.
The footsteps came nearer. To her they sounded from out the darkness like the approach of death.
"Hasten!" she whispered, "hasten!" She held the lantern against the frame of the solid door and pressed her shoulder against it, that her nervousness should not agitate the flame, whispering "Hasten!" the while to Silencio, whose trembling fingers almost refused to do this most necessary work. At last, with a bang and a sharp twist of the key, the heavy door was closed and locked.
"Do you see an iron bar anywhere, Raquel, in the bushes there on the left?"