A sudden spurt of bullets on the ceiling made Rex duck his head.
“No matter,” De Richleau went on quickly, “we can only go one at a time, and her cottage is the only place that we all know; it is the only place to rendezvous.”
“Can’t we all beat it together?” Rex suggested.
“You know we cannot,” said the Duke sharply, “they would follow us. One of us must run while the others cover his retreat from the window. Simon is to go first.”
“Why me?” said Simon. “You want to get rid of me!”
“Don’t be a fool — you waste time talking. In any case, you have only two shots left in that pistol. Rex, watch that side window while I speak to Simon.”
“Listen.” De Richleau’s voice dropped to a lower, more persuasive tone. “It is a big risk you run; there may be men already at the back of the house. There soon will be. Marie Lou has failed to get horses. Well, then, someone must go to her — at once, she is our only hope — and she is a brave child. I take responsibility for this. Ask her to show you somewhere where we can hide. We will give you half an hour’s start; but when we arrive, be ready. Go now, every moment counts.”
A shattering crash came as Rex fired into the darkness at a moving shape on the roof.
“All right; that’s different,” said Simon.
“That’s better. Good-bye, my son.”
“Missed him,” said Rex from the window, “but I guess he won’t try that cat burglar stuff again for a bit!”
“Lord be praised that we’ve got that boy out of this,” sighed the Duke, as Simon could be heard making his way down the stairs.
“Think he’ll make it?” said Rex.
“Why not? There has been no sign of movement in the garden up to now. Fire again from your window to show that we are still here.” As he spoke De Richleau watched the terrace and lawns below him. He tapped his foot impatiently. “They will be round here in a moment. They must know that this room looks out on the back!”
Simon came out on the terrace. He looked quickly to right and left, then darted down the stone steps. The Duke watched anxiously as he ran across the first lawn. “Fire again, Rex,” he said nervously, “fire again; don’t let them suppose that we’re not here.”
Simon took the second terrace at a jump. To De Richleau he was now only a faint blur against the whiteness of the snow. The Duke breathed more freely. There had been no sign of the enemy, and the darkness swallowed Simon up.
A bullet sang through Rex’s window, and thumped into the wall. Someone was firing from a new angle, but De Richleau did not heed it; he was watching the distance into which Simon had disappeared. Suddenly there was a spurt of flame somewhere in the bushes by the lower lawn, and then a sharp cry.
“Good God,” the Duke groaned, “they’ve got him.”
Another flash, some way to the left, speared the darkness for a second. De Richleau leaned out of the window in his excitement and anxiety. “Don’t shoot,” he yelled at the top of his voice, “he can see you by the flash.” But even as he called his warning there came two more spurts of flame from opposite directions, about fifteen feet apart, and another cry. The Duke gripped the window-sill in his agony. He feared that Simon, already wounded, had used his last shot. At the bottom of the garden all was silence once more.
“Did they get him?” Rex asked in a strained voice.
“God knows — I fear so; they had a man in the bushes by the gate. Never shall I forgive myself if I have sent that boy to his death. I will go down.”
“You’ll stay right where you are,” Rex replied promptly, “and for the land’s sake come away from that window — they’ll pot you where you stand.”
The Duke drew in his head, but he remained staring gloomily into the darkness.
“You couldn’t help it,” Rex tried to hearten him; “you just thought it would be an easy get-away for him; ’sides, I’ll bet little Simon’s all right. Almighty difficult to hit a running man in the dark; he can take care of himself better than you think. I’d back Simon against any Bolshie that ever lived.”
“You mean it kindly, but you’re talking nonsense, Rex. Simon would be as helpless as a child against one of these men, and he’s gone to his death through my foolishness.”
A pistol cracked from the terrace below — De Richleau staggered back, dropping his gun with a clatter on the floor as Rex caught him.
“Steady,” said Rex in a whisper, “steady — tell me you’re all right?”
“Don’t worry,” he managed to gasp, “they got me in the shoulder.”
“Hell’s luck. I was just beginning to think that we might get out of here. Is it bleeding much?”
“No, don’t worry — watch the roof.” De Richleau leant against the wall. After a moment he spoke again. “Bone’s scraped, not broken, I think — bullet’s in the ceiling.”
“Can you use your gun?” Rex asked anxiously.
“Yes. Mustn’t use right arm; bleed too much. I can fire left-handed.”
Rex groped for the pistol on the floor. “I’ll reload it for you,” he said quickly, slipping out the magazine.
“Thanks. A bit quieter, isn’t it? I don’t like it,” said De Richleau suddenly. “They’re up to some mischief.”
“I should worry,” Rex laughed. “Keep clear of that garden window and we’ll be O.K.; they can’t rush us except from the roof or the stairs — and they’d just hate to try either.”
“Yes, we’re safe for the time being, I suppose — if only poor Simon were still with us,” the Duke groaned.
“Maybe he’s only been winged, like you. Anyhow, we’ve knocked the guts out of this racket already, or I’m mistaken. How many do you reckon there were to start with?”
“Twelve, perhaps.”
“Right. Well, there was the big boob who tried to stop you coming through the roof — that’s one. The two bums I outed on my first visit makes three; then the chap with a head like an egg-shell who found the butt of my automatic — that’s four.”
“Simon shot one from the landing window.”
“Yep, that’s five.”
“There was the man I shot from the corner of the wall — I saw him drop,” added De Richleau.
“That’s six, anyhow, and we’ve had quite a few additional hits, according to the shouting,” Rex grinned. “I’ll say there’s not many of the bunch haven’t got sore spots some place.”
“The advantage of fighting upon interior lines,” De Richleau smiled in spite of his pain. “Or shall we say ’a demonstration of the superiority of the defensive when using modern weapons’.”
“That’s the idea. It’s good to hear you talking again like that.” Rex peered from the window. “I’d like to know what these birds are up to, all the same.”
After the almost continuous firing the silence was uncanny. “Perhaps,” De Richleau suggested, “they have gone for reinforcements; the air-park can’t be more than a mile away. They will return with machineguns and a searchlight!”
“It’ll be the end of the party if they do. I guess we’d better get out of this while the going’s good.”
“Yes, no good waiting to be shot like rats in a trap. Let’s try our luck!”
They moved towards the door. No sound came from below. De Richleau swore softly. “How these stairs creak.”
“Which way?” said Rex, when they reached the bottom. “Better go by the garden and see if we can’t pick Simon up.”
“No,” said the Duke miserably; “it’s useless. If he’s not dead or captured, he’ll have reached the cottage by now. There is more cover in front; we can work our way round by the outhouses.”