28 A terrible storm
　　Bill gave a cry of rage. Then Jack¹ heard his voice. ‘Get under the bed, Jack and Philip, quick!
　　There may be shooting!’
　　The boys did exactly as they were told. They dived for the bed, Jack clanking in his armour².
　　Philip lay there panting, wishing his hands were not tied. Jack got stuck halfway³ under the bed.
　　What was happening in the room they didn’t know. There were shouts and panting and groans⁴ –but nobody did any shooting. It was too dark to risk that in case friend shot friend. It sounded tothe boys as if men in armour and men without were rolling on the ground together, for there was atremendous thudding and clashing.
　　Suddenly there was a grating noise, and the boys knew the entrance above was being opened.
　　But who was opening it, their side or the other? Philip had no idea how it was opened from below,though he had often tried to find out, for obviously there must be a way.
　　Then he knew that Scar-Neck or one of his friends must have opened it, as a way of escape, forhe heard Bill’s voice shouting up to the man he had left above.
　　‘Tom! Look out! Shoot anyone coming up!’
　　Tom sprang to the top of the steps, but he could see nothing down below. He could only hearthe groans and clanks the boys could hear. Then up the steps crept one of the men. Tom did nothear him, and suddenly he felt a blow that sent him sprawling⁵. It was Scar-Neck trying to escape.
　　In the fight he had lost his revolver or he would certainly have shot Tom.
　　Before Tom could get up and catch him, he was gone – and yet another man was on top of thesurprised Tom, falling over him. Poor Tom got another blow, and his head sang. Then the shaggy-browed man kicked him savagely⁶ and disappeared too.
　　After that Tom didn’t know what to do – whether to stand at the top of the steps to preventanyone else coming up, or to go after the escaping men. But as he hadn’t the remotest idea wherethey had gone, he chose the first course.

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