"
"There is another gun loaded, Humphrey," said Alice, who with Edith
had joined them without Humphrey observing it.
"Thanks, love; but you and Edith must not remain here; sit down on the
hearth, and then you will be sheltered from any bullet which they may
fire into the house. I have no fear of their getting in, and we shall
have help directly, I have no doubt. Pablo, I shall fire through the
back door; they must be there, for the dogs have their noses under it,
and are so violent. Do you fire another gun, as a signal, through the
hole in the front door."
Humphrey stood within four feet of the back door, and fired just above
where the dogs held their noses and barked. Pablo discharged his gun
as directed, and then returned to reload the guns. The dogs were now
more quiet, and it appeared as if the robbers had retreated from the
back door. Pablo blew out the light, which had been put more in the
center of the room when Alice and Edith took possession of the
fireplace.
"No fear, Missy Edith, I know where find every thing," said Pablo, who
now went and peered through the hole in the front door, to see if the
robbers were coming to it again; but he could see and hear nothing for
some time.
At last the attack was renewed; the dogs flew backward and forward,
sometimes to one door and then to another, as if both were to be
assailed; and at the same time a crash in Alice's bedchamber told them
that the robbers had burst in the small window in that room, which
Humphrey had not paid any attention to, as it was so small that a man
could hardly introduce his body through it.
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