Here it was all. but dark - they
were the servants' bedrooms that we were passing now - but I knew
what I was doing. Round the last corner to the right, through the
first door to the left and we were in the room underneath the tower.
In our time a long stepladder had led to the tower itself. I
rushed in the dark to the old corner. Thank God, the ladder was
there still! It leaped under us as we rushed aloft like one
quadruped. The breakneck trap-door was still protected by a curved
brass stanchion; this I grasped with one hand, and then Raffles
with the other as I felt my feet firm upon the tower floor. In he
sprawled after me, and down went the trap-door with a bang upon the
leading hound.
I hoped to feel his dead-weight shake the house, as he crashed upon
the floor below; but the fellow must have ducked, and no crash came.
Meanwhile not a word passed between Raffles and me; he had followed
me, as I had led him, without waste of breath upon a single syllable.
But the merry lot below were still yelling and bellowing in full cry.
"Gone to ground? screamed one.
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