This was Wily's hope. Breathlessly he listened to the sounds above. The footsteps and the voices faded away into the upper regions of the building.
"Now," muttered Wily, "we might be able to dodge through the front door. They're all upstairs."
Dhondaram shook his head.
"The door in the floor, sahib, cannot be found," he whispered reassuringly. "The feringhis will not discover us. Be patient."
Presently Matt heard his friends returning to the lower floor, heard them enter the kitchen, heard the sound of lifted windows and opening blinds, marked the slow and steady advance from the kitchen into the hall, and along the hall to a point under the stairs.
By then, even Dhondaram had begun to take alarm.
"They're at the trap!" gasped Wily Bill.
"Is there no way out of this hole, sahib?" demanded Dhondaram through his teeth.
"Only by the way we came in. I lived in this house and I know all about it."
Dhondaram smashed the flat of his hand down over the light of the candle. The Stygian blackness that reigned showed plainly the rim of daylight under the lifting door.