Perhaps the gentleman's statement of a whole battery of these masked weapons was a fiction, designed to hold us spellbound with fear.
There was a hope in the thought.
How my heart bounded!
I had often thought I could imagine just how a cornered criminal feels, as he gathers himself, in very desperation, for a dash for liberty.
But my imagination had never drawn so vivid a picture as was painted by my situation and its natural feelings at that moment.
I glanced up.
Out of the window that head still protruded, and the eyes in it were watching me sharply.
The muzzle of the gun was directed at me point-blank.
The gentleman knew that the two others were trapped, and so paid me the compliment of keeping me under surveillance.
I heard the back door of the house opened.