“For Heaven’s sake, don’t be all night in getting that door open,” cried Fred, nervously, and I will confess that I also partook of the same complaint.

“Now for a rush—­cut them to pieces,” exclaimed many voices; but I observed that the cries came from those who were farthest from us, and out of the reach of our pistols, which we were forced to display, in hope of keeping the robbers at a respectful distance.

“Is the door unbarred?” asked Mr. Brown, turning half round, and exposing his side to the knives of the crowd, and quick as thought, a man sprang forward to begin the work of bloodshed; but sudden as were his movements, they were anticipated, for I raised the heavy bar, which I had not relinquished, and let it fall upon his head with crushing force.

The poor devil fell at our feet without uttering a groan, although many spasmodic twitchings of his nerves showed that he was not killed outright His long knife narrowly missed the side of the inspector, and for the first attempt at our annihilation, it was not to be despised.

The wretches uttered yells of rage when they saw their comrade fall, but none seemed inclined to assume the leadership and begin the attack in earnest.

Not one of their motions escaped us, and as long as they were disposed to brandish their knives at a distance, we did not choose to carry matters to extremities; but change of tactics was suddenly resorted to on the part of our opponents, that placed us in no little peril.

All the tumblers, bottles, and decanters of the bar were token possession of by the savage scoundrels, and the first intimation that we had of the fact was the crushing of a bottle (empty, of course—­they were not the sort of men to throw away liquor of any kind) against the door, just above our heads.

[Illustration:  “Now for a rush—­cut them to pieces!” exclaimed many voices:  but I observed that the cries came from those who were furthest from us and out of the reach of our pistols, which we were forced to display, in hope of keeping the robbers at a respectful distance.]

The fragments were showered upon our faces and shoulders, but before we had time to consider on the matter another bottle flew past my head, and hit our prisoner upon one of his shoulders, injuring him so severely that he dropped to the floor as though he had been shot.

“Self-preservation is the first law of nature,” cried the inspector, in a calm tone, cocking his pistol; and when he saw an arm raised to hurl another bottle at our heads, he fired.  I saw the raised arm fall suddenly, and I fancied that I could hear the pistol ball when it struck, and buried itself amid bone and muscle.

“And are we to be shot down like dogs?” was the indignant question which some one put, and a loud yell of “No,” and a rush towards us, was the response.

One ruffian struck at me, and the point of his knife entered my shirt near the left shoulder, and inflicted a slight scratch, or wound—­but before he had time to renew the blow, which I escaped by dodging, Mr. Brown had singled him out as a victim, and he fell, with a horrid imprecation upon his lips, dyeing the black and soiled floor with his blood.