But Thomson aimed his pistol straight at Winona’s breast, and cried: “I fire if you come a step nearer.”
Warren groaned. “Oh, for a moment’s freedom and a good weapon in my hand!”
Suddenly a lurid glare lighted up the hall, and Warren saw a dark shadow creeping in Thomson’s rear. Something of an extraordinary nature was about to happen.
“It is Judah! It is Judah!”
It was indeed Judah. He had crept along gradually advancing nearer and nearer, bending almost double in observation; then like a wild beast preparing to pounce upon his prey, he stiffened his powerful muscles, and with a bound sprang upon Thomson, seizing him in an iron grasp, and dragging him backward to the ground with such violence that his pistol flew from his hand. Placing one foot upon the breast of the prostrate man to prevent him from rising, he picked up the pistol, crying:
“It is between you and me, now. Our roles are reversed. It is you who must die.”
He was about to fire, when Captain Brown hastily interfered:
“No, no; it won’t do. Spare him!”
“Spare him! For what? To afford him an opportunity to do more mischief? No, no!”
“Let us release Maxwell first and get outside the building then, if you insist upon this thing,” said Maybee.