I laughed dryly at my own cowardice, but my heart was still beating
abnormally.

"Here I am, Bristol, in a ghastly funk!"

"I don't wonder! They may be on us any time now. All's well at
the gate, but Morris says he heard, or thought he heard something
at the side of the chapel opposite, a while ago."

"Wind in the bushes?"

"It may have been; but he says there was no breeze at the time."

We resumed our seats.

"Bristol," I said, "now that the danger grows imminent, doesn't it
seem to you foolhardy for us thus to expose ourselves?"

"Perhaps it is," he agreed; "but how otherwise are we likely to
learn what happened to Marden and West?"

"The enemy may adopt different measures to-night."

"I think not. Our dispositions are the same, and I credit them with
cunning enough to know it. At the same time I credit ourselves with
having kept the existence of the steel traps completely secret. They
will assume (so I've reasoned) that we intend to rely entirely upon
our superior vigilance, therefore they will try the same game as last
night."