Page:Rowland--The Mountain of Fears.djvu/169

  we both knew, that Jacob was dying; there was no mistaking that. It would be a matter of at least two hours' hard work to liberate him without noise, and we both felt that by that time he would be already liberated; and Rosenthal, the Jew, whose habit and training and every instinct was that of weighing cost and gain, decided that he could not afford to wait, garrison or no garrison. Apparently life held nothing which could compensate him for the privilege of holding his crippled brother in his powerful arms while the struggling soul was fighting its way to the God of his fathers. Before I could interfere—and, indeed, I did not try very hard to interfere, Doctor, for was I not paid to carry out the man's orders?—he had raised the pick and assailed the heavy door with a fury that filled the silent fortress with thundering reverberations.

"Lights began to flash out in the barracks; at a distance a sentry fired his piece for an alarm. I heard shouts and cries and orders, and through it all Rosenthal, the Jew, stood [ 153 ]