An astounding feature of this tragic episode was the absence of any outcry on the victim's part. He uttered no sound other than a stifled gurgle after that half-completed exclamation was stilled. Possibly, his dazed wits concentrated on the one frantic endeavour--to get rid of that horrible choking thing which had clutched at him from out of the surrounding obscurity.
And now a thick knotted rope plumped down until its end lay on the floor, and a rough-looking fellow, clothed like Maertz or Dalroy himself, descended with the ease and agility of a monkey. He was just the kind of shaggy goblin one might expect to emerge from any such hiding-place; but he carried a slung rifle, and the bewildered prisoner, taking a few steps forward to greet his rescuer, realised that the weapon was a Lee-Enfield of the latest British army pattern.
"'Arf a mo', sir," gurgled the new-comer in a husky and cheerful whisper. "I'll 'old the rope till the next of ahr little knot 'as shinned dahn. Then I'll cut yer loose, an' we'll get the wind up ahtside. Didjever 'ear such a gas-bag as that bloomin' Jarman? Lord luv' a duck, 'e couldn't 'arf tork! But Shiney Black, one of ahrs, 'as just shoved a bynit through 'is gizzard, so _that_ cock won't crow agine!"
Dalroy owned only a reader's knowledge of colloquial cockney. He inferred, rather than actually understood, that several British soldiers were secreted in the loft, and that one of them, named "Shiney Black," had closed Von Halwig's career in the twinkling of an eye.
By this time another man had reached the ground. He seized the rope and steadied it, and a third appeared. The first gnome whipped out a knife, freed Dalroy, unslung his rifle, and picked up the electric torch, which he held so that its beam filled the doorway. Man after man came down. Each was armed with a regulation rifle; Dalroy, for once thrown completely off his balance, became dimly aware that in every instance the equipment included bayonet, bandolier, and haversack.
The cohort formed up, too, as though they had rehearsed the procedure in the gymnasium at Aldershot. There was no muttered order, no uncertainty. Rifles were unslung, bayonets fixed, and safety catches turned over soundlessly.