"Right, by Jove! that is——" And here Barney came to an abrupt pause.
At this time there were not less than a dozen men in the place, besides the four detectives, every one of them desperate characters, and warm friends of Bill Bunce, the proprietor.
At the moment Barney paused his eye happened to rest on the quartet at the next table, and he was struck by the eager interest depicted on one or two of the faces.
"What's the matter?" demanded Bunce, turning sharply round.
"The matter is," cried Barney, starting to his feet and drawing a couple of revolvers, "that these fellows are a pack of cursed spies, and I know it!"
"Spies!" echoed every man in the room. "Spies! Kill the bloody wretches! don't let one of 'em escape!"
"We're in for it, by Jove!" exclaimed Rouse. "Let us keep well together, and shoot to kill."
"Ay!" said Old Spicer, "but I should awfully hate to have the gallows cheated of its lawful prey. I wish I could take those two villains back with me unharmed."
By this time Bill Bunce and his friends had got between the detectives and the outlets, and were preparing for a deadly fight.
"Do you really mean to say that you will be so rash as to fire upon us?" asked Old Spicer. "You must know that sooner or later you will have to pay dearly for it if you do."