They could have been after no good, for their steps were noiseless, and they must have come up without boots." "Keep a sharp lookout, sentry," Desmond said, "and see that they don't steal up to you, for if they do, you may be stabbed before you have time to turn round.
"It is lucky that I carried out your suggestion, Mike, and posted a sentry at the door.

Of course, these men the sentry saw may not have been coming here, but at any rate their conduct was suspicious." In a few minutes Desmond was again asleep.

He had had a long day's work, and believing that the affair was over, at least for the night, he did not even try to keep awake.
As soon as Mike heard, by his breathing, that he was asleep, he got up noiselessly and seated himself near the open window, with a loaded pistol.

An hour passed, and then he heard a slight stir in the street.

He did not look out, but grasped his pistol tightly.
Their room was on the first floor.