simultaneously into the room; but ere they could fire a pistol, or even put themselves into an attitude of defense, they were cut down or run through the body. Then a tremendous crash and a wild cry was heard.
"Hurrah!" Dick shouted; "the staircase has given way."
Many groans and shrieks were heard below; then there was a sound of persons being carried out, and for awhile quiet below, while outside the hubbub became greater.
"What is going on outside?" Ned said; and Dick and he peered through the closed jalousies into the street.
A number of budmashes were bringing bundles of bamboos from a basket-maker's shop opposite; some of the crowd were opposing them.
"They are going to fire the house," Dick exclaimed. "The people opposing are the neighbors, no doubt. They'll do it, though," he added, as the fiercer spirits drove the others back. "What's best to be done, Ned?"
Ned looked round, and then up.
"Let us cut through the bamboo ceiling, Dick; there must be a space between that and the roof. The wall won't be thick between that and the next house, and we can work our way from house to house; and if the flames gain—for they are sure to spread—we can but push off the tiles and take to the roofs, and run the gauntlet of their pistols and muskets. Their blood's up now, and they will shoot, to a certainty. Do you think that the best plan?"
"That's it. Now, lads, two of you stand close together; now, Perkins, you jump on their shoulders, and cut a hole through the bamboos with your cutlass. Quick, lads; there's no time to lose;" for they could hear the tramping of feet below, and the sound as the bundles of bamboo were thrown down.
