Forrester had gone down to
the garden.
In the court, however, he ran across Ah Pat, loitering beside a lantern.
The compradore grinned, and in a tone of great unconcern called out that
the pair were not in the garden. "Walkee so." He pointed down the
passage to the main gate, and hooked his thumb toward the right, to
indicate their course. "Makee finish, makee die now," he added calmly;
"too muchee, no can."
Rudolph experienced his first shock of terror, like an icy blow on the
scalp. They had gone outside before the alarm; she, Bertha, was swept
away in that tumult which came raging through the darkness.--He stood
transfixed, but only for an instant, rather by the stroke of
helplessness than by fear; and then, blindly, without plan or foresight,
darted down the covered way. The tiny flame of a pith wick, floating in
a saucer of oil, showed Heywood's gatekeeper sitting at his post, like a
gnome in the gallery of a mine. Rudolph tore away the bar, heard the
heavy gate slam shut, and found himself running down the starlit road.
Not all starlight, however; a dim red glow began to flicker on the
shapes which rushed behind him in his flight.
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