"And I his child." Alice was not smiling as she joined the two. There was a glint of fire in her dark eyes. "Is--is that Iggy the Snake?" Madame LeClare asked. "Beyond doubt it is." Drew's eyes were gleaming. "He and his gang, the men who killed Jack LeClare, the men we swore to get. And with God's help we'll get them yet!" He set his teeth hard. "You ladies can shoot?" he said in a changed voice. "As well as any man!" Madame held up her head proudly. "That's good! Let's see." Drew moved to the cupboard by the stairs. "The Captain showed me a new sort of gas bomb. Yes, here it is. Puts 'em out completely for a full half hour. Be swell if we could use it." "But they'll be a respectful distance away," Tom Howe objected. "How can we?" "That's right. Have to trust our automatics, I guess. Here!" Drew handed one of his guns to Johnny. "And you." Tom passed a thing of blue metal to Madame LeClare as if it were a bouquet of roses. She accepted it with a bow. "There's no phone--no way of spreading an alarm." Drew spoke calmly. "No one passes this way at night. They've got till morning. Johnny, has the place a cellar?" "Only a hole for vegetables--no windows." "No use to us. They'd burn the house. Smother us like rats. We'll have to stand our ground, every one at a window. This is the way our forefathers fought savages." His voice had grown husky. "These are more savage than they!" Madame LeClare added. "We might make a dash for it. Try getting away in the cars," Tom Howe suggested. "They may be all set to mow us down as we come out," Drew objected. "We've not been watching, you know. But we'd better be, right now!" His tone changed. "We'll set a watch at the windows. There's one on every side. We'll watch in pairs. Misery loves company. You and you there; you and you--" He pointed them to their places rapidly. Johnny found himself settled upon a cushion behind the low window in the small southwest room. At his side, so close he fancied he felt her heart beat, was Alice LeClare. He thanked Drew for that. If the watch were to be long, here was pleasant company. Then, too, he had learned by the glint in her dark eyes that, if worse came to worst, if he were wounded, out of the combat, this splendid girl would fight over him as bravely and savagely as any Indian fighter's wife had fought over her fallen man. It was strange, the silence of the place, once they were all settled and the lights out. The fire in the cracked old stove shone red. The little clock that had ticked the good Captain's boyhood quite away, as if it would end the suspense and bring the dawn at once, raced more furiously than before. The girl at Johnny's side breathed steadily, evenly, as if this were but the night before Christmas and she waiting for Santa Claus in the dark. "What a girl!" Johnny thought.