You will harm us at your peril, gentlemen.

The Vicomte, believe me, will avenge every hair of our heads." I can shut my eyes now and see the stupid wonder, the baulked ferocity of those gaping faces.

Dull and savage as the men were they were impressed; they saw reason indeed, and all seemed going well for us when some one in the rear shouted, "Cursed whelps! Throw them over!" I looked swiftly in the direction whence the voice came--the darkest corner of the room the corner by the shuttered window.

I thought I made out a slender figure, cloaked and masked--a woman's it might be but I could not be certain and beside it a couple of sturdy fellows, who kept apart from the herd and well behind their fugleman.
The speaker's courage arose no doubt from his position at the back of the room, for the foremost of the assailants seemed less determined.
We were only three, and we must have gone down, barricade and all, before a rush.

But three are three.