They dismounted, tethered their horses behind the wall, and entered the yard.

The place was deserted, derelict--not even a cat.
Suddenly a shot rang out from somewhere in the main building, and the Sergeant, the next man to Boyce, fell dead, shot through the brain.

The men looked at Boyce for command and saw a hulking idiot paralysed by fear.
"His mouth hung open and his eyes were like a silly servant girl's looking at a ghost." So said my informant.
Two more shots and two men fell.

Boyce still stood white and gasping, unable to move a muscle or utter a sound.

His face looked ghastly in the moonlight.