An instant later a gray-haired man rushed out on the landing.
He was seized before he could get farther, and his spectacles came tinkling down to McMurdo's feet.

There was a thud and a groan.

He was on his face, and half a dozen sticks were clattering together as they fell upon him.

He writhed, and his long, thin limbs quivered under the blows.

The others ceased at last; but Baldwin, his cruel face set in an infernal smile, was hacking at the man's head, which he vainly endeavoured to defend with his arms.