He opened his eyes, and stared for a moment without comprehension. Then, "You chaps!" he said. "This is great! I never thought—here, cut off these things."
They snicked the cords that bound, and he stood up, rubbing his cramped limbs, and shaking them all by the hand.
"Jingo, but you're dinkum pals," he said. "I thought they had us beaten, but—"
"Who is it?" asked Patch. "Lazare and Humbolt?"
Billy nodded. "Yes, the brutes! They tried torturing me, and they got the information they wanted—I said that Jack had the Star. I had to—they made me."
Billy smiled a wry sort of smile. "They've got a little motor-launch, too, and I suppose they thought I was safe enough here. But they may be back at any moment. We'd better clear."
"True for you," said Jack; and the four of them got out of the cave into the faint starlight. "Phew! I can't say that the merry old cave is exactly—"
There was a sudden blaze of light, and he stopped short.
"You will put your hands up, and drop that gun," said a strange voice. "Look sharp!"
Under the menace of a heavy revolver Jack had to drop his own weapon. He almost groaned with despair. Just at the moment of their triumph, Humbolt had returned, and, what was worse, he had already got the upper hand.