Suddenly a tremendous shout burst forth behind them, as if from the lungs of several hundred men. At the same moment there came the glare of many torches, and the drawbridge began to rise.
“Jump, boys!” thundered Nick Carter, as he gave Pike a push forward.
He leaped off the end of the drawbridge when it was eight or nine feet in the air, and landed on the soft turf at the other side of the lake.
He heard several others come down with him. Then there was the flash of spears on every side, and a terrifying shriek of pain sounded in his ears.
The drawbridge had been let down again, and he made out the tramp of hundreds of feet on the heavy boards.
“They got him!” cried Patsy’s voice at his elbow.
“Who?” asked Nick.
“Pike!”
“What do you mean?”
“Look!”