He grasped the beam behind while Manasseh carried the forward end, and so they converted it into a Roman battering-ram.
The booming of cannon was drowned now by the pounding on the iron door.
The two prisoners wondered that no one in the house seemed to hear them.
But those who might before have heard were engaged elsewhere, while to those outside the noises in the street drowned all tumult in the cellar.
At length the lock gave way under the tremendous battering to which it was subjected, and soon the door flew open.

The outer door was of wood, and yielded readily.
"Hold on, stand back!" cried the gipsy, as Manasseh was about to run up the stairs.

"Wait until I take a peep and see if the coast is clear.
I'll mayhap find a gun that some one has thrown down." "But I can't wait," returned the other, brushing him aside.

"I need no gun.

The first man that dares get in my way shall furnish me with arms.
I am going to seek my wife! Let him who values his life run from before me!" He burst through the door, and sprang up the steps.