I thought that Grim looked almost as nervous as I felt, but Mahommed ben Hamza was having the time of his life, and could not keep his tongue still.
"Head upwards a man can yell," he explained to me, grinning from ear to ear.

"Feet upwards, too afraid to yell!" Then the thundering on the door began again, louder than before it seemed to me.

They were using a battering-ram.

But they were too late.
After what seemed like a long-drawn hour we saw shadowy arms below reach up and seize our prisoner.

Then the loose rope came up again hand over hand.
"You next!" said Grim quietly.