As he did so, he saw two of the other burglars leap through. They were
going to the assistance of their pal. Then a shot sounded.
Badger crossed the intervening distance at a sprinting pace, and found
himself suddenly confronted by the burglar who was still on guard at the
window. A pistol gleamed in the dim light. Badger knocked it aside,
struck the man a blow that would have felled an ox, and went through the
window with a flying leap that took him to the foot of the stairway.
He saw the two burglars on the stairs near the top. One held a
dark-lantern and the other a heavy jimmy. Above, the sounds of the fight
continued, and the burglar attacked by Lee was still bawling for help.
Fairfax Lee felt that he was fighting for his life, and he still
believed that he was fighting Bill Gaston. He did not hear the burglars
on the stairs. He was trying to get the supposed Bill Gaston by the
throat and choke him into subjection. The burglar's shot, fired almost
pointblank at Lee, had done him no injury, and now the weapon was on the
floor.
"Help!" bellowed the burglar.
He got his throat free, but he could not throw off those clutching
hands. Visions of striped clothing and prison officials loomed before
him, for he had once done time. His anxious ears heard what Lee did
not--the calls of the ruffians who were hurrying to his assistance--and
he fought like a tiger.
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