Whereupon affairs began to move in meteoric fashion.
Several people came bundling out of the car. From the gloom all about it there sounded the scamper of hurrying feet.
The door was thrown open, and a blaze of light swept the steps.
Alden leapt over the threshold, pistol in hand, yelling at the same time:
"Follow me, boys!"
Like the swoop of heated play to a goal burst a human wave upon the steps. Oppner and Martin were swept irresistibly upward and inward. They were surrounded, penned in. Then:
"Break away, you goldarned idiot!" rose Alden's angry voice ahead.
The lights went out. The door slammed.
"Alden!" cried Mr. Oppner. "Alden!"
Someone pinioned him from behind.