"The thieves—the house they took me to," whispered Oliver.
"The devil it is!" cried the doctor. "Halloa, there! let me out!" But before the coachman could dismount from his box he had tumbled out of the coach by some means or other, and, running down to the deserted tenement, began kicking at the door like a madman.
"Halloa!" said a little ugly hump-backed man, opening the door so suddenly that the doctor, from the very impetus of his last kick, nearly fell forward into the passage. "What's the matter here!"
"Matter!" exclaimed the other, collaring him without a moment's reflection. "A good deal. Robbery is the matter."
"There'll be murder, too," replied the humpbacked man, coolly, "if you don't take your hands off. Do you hear me?"
"I hear you," said the doctor, giving his captive a hearty shake. "Where's—confound the fellow, what's his rascally name—Sikes—that's it. Where's Sikes, you thief?"
