The two guards left the sputtering candle, perhaps a third burned, behind, and I heard them stumbling back through the darkness to the foot of the stairs.

I glanced about curiously, shaking the loosened rope from my wrists, my mind instantly reverting to the chance of escape.

Whoever these fellows might be, whatever their purpose, I had no intention of remaining in their hands a moment longer than necessary.

Somehow their silence, their mysterious movements, had impressed me with a strange feeling of fear which I could not analyze.

I could not believe myself a mere prisoner of war, but rather as being held for some private purpose yet to be revealed.