The name of Jenks recalled everything to my mind instantly. In spite of Duval I gripped the broken rail and gained my feet, swaying slightly but able to stand. My hand still grasped the twisted rifle barrel, which I used as a cane.
"But Farrell, the girl! Do you know anything about the girl?"
"What girl? Do you mean Claire Mortimer? Is she here?"
"Yes, her father is lying helplessly wounded up stairs, and she must be with him. Eric is somewhere in the hall, either dead or wounded. I saw him fall just as we retreated to the stairs."
Farrell leaned over and called to some one below.
"Well, hunt for him. Now, we'll go up and find Claire. Major, can you climb the rest of the stairs? Help him, Duval."
I experienced no great difficulty, my strength coming back rapidly. There was a wounded Dragoon leaning against the wall, and half-way down the hall lay another body, face down. Without doubt this was the guard Fagin had stationed there. Duval paused to help the wounded man, but Farrell and I moved on across the dead guard to the open door beyond. Colonel Mortimer, unable to move, was propped up on his pillow, one hand grasping a pistol. With shaking arm he levelled it at us.
"Who are you? Quick, now!" he quavered. "I've shot one, and I'm good for more."
"You know me, Colonel," and Farrell stepped inside. "I am 'Bull' Farrell; this is Major Lawrence." He looked at us with dull eyes, his hand falling weakly.
"Farrell--Farrell--surely, the blacksmith. What Lawrence? The--the officer Claire knows?"
"Yes; he's a rough-looking object I admit, but there has been a fight down below, sir, in which he had a share. We've just cleaned out Red Fagin's gang. We came up here to tell the good news to you and your daughter."
The Colonel's head sank back upon the mussed pillow.
"Not here!" I cried, aroused by the admission. "Did she not return to you?"
"No; they came for her to go down stairs--a tall man with a black beard, and two others. They took her away an hour ago, and I have seen nothing of her since. I--heard the shots, the sound of fierce fighting, but could not move from the bed. Tell me, Major, what has become of my little girl?"
"I do not know," I confessed, gazing about in bewilderment. "She came up the stairs, I am sure. It was just as the fight began, and I had scarcely a moment to observe anything before we were at it fiercely. She shot Fagin down, and then ran."