Hugh followed him with ease, bracing his feet against the wall when he was tired. Then I went up. Then my uncle. Watkins came last. We stood, bending low, on the seaward verge of the roof over which Nikka and I had fled the previous night. It was now well towards midnight, and a haze was settling over the city. The _Curlew_ was invisible even to us who knew precisely her location. The large courtyard to our right was a mere blot; the Garden of the Cedars in front of us was marked by the whispering tops of its two trees. The silence was absolute. The water lapped on the beach below. That was all.
Naturally and by right, Hugh took command. It was his expedition.
"Do we go down through the trapdoor Jack and Nikka used or do we use the rope to drop directly into the Garden?" he asked.
"Yes," I agreed. "Then the rope will always be handy in case you want to escape."
"Right O!" endorsed Hugh cheerfully. "Jack, you and Nikka will come with me. Professor King and Watty will be rearguard and second-line for emergency use. Stay where you are, Professor, until you hear from us."
"But do you consider it advisable, in full accord with military strategy, to divide your forces?" objected my uncle. "Surely--"
"We can handle twice our number," replied Hugh. "If there are more than that we'll call on you. But you and Watty aren't as used to scrapping as we are, and it wouldn't be fair to mix you in it if it can be avoided. Come on, lads."
We crossed the roof toward Sokaki Masyeri, the large courtyard on our right, the Garden of the Cedars on our left. The trapdoor was shut, but unfastened, and Hugh lifted it. The ladder was in place under it. Hugh lowered himself gently, and creaked down to the floor. We followed him. The room was in pitch-darkness, but we made certain by touch that it was empty. The bed from which Nikka and I had cut the cords lay exactly as we had left it, the clothes tumbled over the foot. The door to the hall was off its hinges, but propped in place.
"I've picked up a chair-leg," Nikka whispered by the broken door. "You fellows use your crowbars if--"
"Right," Hugh whispered back. "Can we lift this door aside?"
The hinges rattled slightly as we shifted it. The next moment we peered through a yawning cavity, ears alert. Not a sound reached us, and we stole forward with the utmost care. Midway of the hall were the corkscrew stairs up which Kara had guided Nikka and me. I judged we were close to them when a door jarred beside us. There was a shout, and we were surrounded by a mob of half-seen figures. They poured from the head of the stairs as well as from the rooms opening off the hall in which they had lain concealed. They were all around us, but in the darkness they got in each other's way, and I thought we could beat them off.