Page:Marriott Watson--Galloping Dick.djvu/94

 “And why not?” he asked, laughing. “We shall meet then on level terms, for I would not take you at the disadvantage of my skill—thief though you be.”

“Damn you!” I cried angrily, “what is this gabble about thief? Come, put up your weapon, an’ you will fight in the dark.”

Now the chamber, as I have said, was of the thickness of a foul night, there being no entrance for the light, as I discovered afterwards, save by a little low window looking forth on a deep ditch, the which was now involved in the fall of evening: so that neither he nor I might discern between the shadows. I heard him try the point of his sword upon the stone floor, but by this, and the door being shut, I had lost all count of his direction; and then he called to me, his voice coming from the further end of the dungeon.

“Are you ready, Ryder?” he said.

I gave him the answer in a clear voice, that he might be at no disadvantage from ignorance of my position, and then moved openly into the centre of the chamber.