Both Zeke and Angus Selig started to do so, striding out of the room at Margate’s heels, and all three appeared almost immediately in the hall, then lighted by the rays from the lanterns.
Chick heard them coming and knew that he must be seen if he remained on the stairway, about half of which he had ascended. He drew back quickly from the plain wooden rail on the outer side, intending to steal quietly up to the second floor.
When he trod on the next bare stair, however, the projecting edge of the footboard, weakened with age and dampness in the closed house, broke under his weight.
Chick lost his footing and his balance.
He fell heavily against the rail, seizing it to prevent falling backward down the stairs.
The startling noise brought a roar from Margate:
“What’s that?”
The question was instantly answered—but not verbally.
The stairway rail snapped and broke under the detective’s weight.
Instead of falling backward down the stairway, Chick pitched headlong over the side of it, straight down six feet to the hall floor, on which he landed with a crash that seemed to shake the house.