Page:The Prisoner of Zenda.djvu/141

Rh holding the table in the position that I have described. Then I called out:

"Gentlemen, I accept your offer, relying on your honor. If you will open the door——"

"Open it yourself," said Detchard. "It opens outward," said I. "Stand back a little, gentlemen, or I shall hit you when I open it."

I went and fumbled with the latch. Then I stole back to my place on tiptoe.

"I can't open it!" I cried. "The latch has caught."

"Tut! I'll open it!" cried Detchard. "Nonsense, Bersonin, why not? Are you afraid of one man?"

I smiled to myself. An instant later the door was flung back. The gleam of a lantern showed me the three close together outside, their revolvers leveled. With a shout I charged at my utmost pace across the summerhouse and through the doorway. Three shots rang out and battered into my shield. Another moment, and I leaped out and the table caught them full and square, and in a tumbling, swearing, struggling mass they and I and