He heard the timber crash against the door--once, twice, thrice, and then give away.

He swung round and saw men's faces glowing in the light of the fire, and then another face shot in before the others--that of Vanne Castine.
With a cry of fury he ran forward into the doorway.

Castine saw him at the same moment.

With a similar instinct each sprang for the other's throat, Castine with a knife in his hand.
A cry of astonishment went up from the officers and the men without.
They had expected to see Nic; but Nic was on his way to the horse beneath the great elm tree, and from the elm tree to the State of New York--and safety.
The men and the officers fell back as Castine and Ferrol clinched in a death struggle.

Ferrol knew that his end had come.