“Be discreet, self-possessed, and wary.”  Lyon spoke in a warning voice.

“I will.  And you take good heed to the same advice.”

The men were yet standing face to face, each grasping the other’s hand, when both partly turned their heads to listen.  There was a sound of feet at the upper end of the passage, just at the landing, and it came rapidly nearer.  A breathless pause marked the deep interest of the listeners.  A few moments of suspense, in which Lyon and his companion grew deadly pale, and then the noisy footsteps were silenced at their very door.  A smothered sound of voices was followed by a trial of the lock, and then by a decided rapping.  But no answer was made to the summons.

Noiselessly, Mr. Lyon drew from a deep side-pocket a loaded revolver; but the hand of his companion was laid quickly upon his arm, and his lips, in dumb show, gave the word—­

“Madness!”

Lyon shook him off, and deliberately pointed his weapon toward the door.

“Hallo, there!  Are you asleep?”

This loud call came after repeated knocking and rattling.  But there was no response, nor the slightest indication of life within the chamber.

“They are here, I am certain.”  These words were distinctly heard by the anxious inmates.

“Then we must break in the door,” was resolutely answered.

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, put up that pistol!” hoarsely whispered Leach.  “Such resistance will be fatal evidence against us.  Better open the door and put a bold face upon it.”

“Too late!” was just whispered back, when the door flew open with a crash, and the body of the man who had thrown himself against it with a force greatly beyond the resistance, fell inward upon the floor.  At the same instant, Lyon exclaimed, in a quick, savage voice—­

“Back, instantly, or you are dead men!”

There was such a will in the words he uttered, that, for a moment, the men, four in number, fell back from the open door, and in that instant Lyon sprung past them, and, ere they could recover themselves, was beyond their reach.  His friend made an attempt to follow, but was seized and made prisoner.  The time spent in securing him was so much of a diversion in favour of Lyon, who succeeded in getting into the street, ere the alarm extended to the lower part of the house, and passing beyond immediate observation.  But escape from the city was impossible.  The whole police force was on the alert in half an hour, and in less than an hour he was captured, disguised as a sailor, on board of a vessel ready cleared and making ready to drop down the river.  He yielded quietly, and, after being taken before the authorities in the case, was committed for hearing in default of bail.  The arrest was on a requisition from the governor of New York.

CHAPTER XLII.