With bated breath he heard Halloran enter the outer apartment.
And he heard his impatient, muttered imprecations as he fumbled about
for matches, seemingly without finding any.
"This is where I put them," exclaimed Halloran, with an oath, "but they
are not here now."
After a moment's pause his voice broke the awful stillness, exclaiming:
"Ah! here they are! I imagined they were not far away. One should always
know where to put his hands on such things, even in the dark. A whole
bunch of 'em; I did not remember that I had so many!"
For the next few moments Lester heard him walking to and fro, apparently
dragging heavy articles over the floor, and he knew that he was piling
pieces of boards together in the middle of the room to start the blaze.
His blood fairly ran cold in his veins at the thought.
The moments that followed seemed the length of eternity.
Each instant he expected to hear the dull scratching of the matches,
quickly followed by the swift, crackling blaze.
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