“‘It is of no use, Piragoff,’ whimpered one of his comrades.  ’They are in the house.  It is an ambush.’

“‘Yes,’ cried the third man, ’it is as Boris says.  The house is dark and they are hiding in it.  Bolt the door and let them come up to us; and we will kill them—­kill!—­kill!—­kill!’ he ended with an unearthly shriek and a burst of hysterical sobs.

“‘I shall go,’ said Piragoff.  ‘There is a chance.’

“‘There is none,’ shrieked the other.  ‘Come back, madman!’

“The door slammed, the key turned in the lock and a heavy bolt was shot.  I quietly closed the slide and ran down to the open window of the first floor front room.

“The street appeared to be empty save for two constables who stood at a corner conversing in low tones.  A profound silence reigned—­an unusual silence, as it seemed!—­through which the subdued murmur of the constables’ voices was faintly audible.  I looked out anxiously, debating whether I ought not to warn the unconscious sentinels even at the risk of defeating my plans.  Suddenly two sharp reports in quick succession rang out from below; both constables fell, and a figure darted out of the doorway and raced madly up the street.

“One of the fallen constables lay motionless; the other grasped his hip with one hand and with the other fired his revolver repeatedly at the retreating murderer, but apparently missed him every time.  In a few seconds a sergeant and another constable came flying round the corner; police whistles began to sound their warning in all directions; and the previous silence gave place to a very Babel of noise.  But Piragoff had shot up a side turning before the sergeant arrived, and the persistent clamor of the whistles told me that he had, for the moment, at least, escaped.  I turned away.  Piragoff was out of my hands, and what I had seen only made it more imperative that I should prevent further bloodshed.

“As, once more, I softly opened the slide, the voices of the miserable wretches within came to me in a strange and unpleasant mixture of curses, blasphemies and hysterical sobs.  They cursed Piragoff, they cursed the police, they invoked death and destruction on every man, woman and child in this nation of pigs; and between the curses they wept and lamented.  I had shut the damper of the stove before going down, but the charcoal was still alight, though dull.  I now arranged the stove in position, resting the long pipe on the bottom edge of the opening so that its end projected a few inches into the room; moving quite silently and assisted by the hubbub from without and the noise produced by the two craven villains.  When it was fixed, I opened the damper, and presently, holding my hand opposite the mouth of the pipe, felt a strong current of hot gas pouring out.  That gas would cool rapidly on meeting the cold air, and then would fall by its own weight and collect about the floor.