They were prepared.
Still that crescendo of the whistling continued; it seemed as if it would never reach them; it grew loud as a bird singing in that very room, and still it continued to swell, increase--then suddenly went out.

As if it were the signal for which she had been waiting all these heartbreaking moments, Kate opened the front door, ran quickly down the hall, and stood an instant later on the path in front of the house.

She had locked the doors as she went through, and now she heard one of the men rattling the lock to follow her.

The rattling ceased.

Evidently they decided that they would hold the fort as they were.
Her heel hardly sank in the sand when she saw him.