"Pile in, boys!" he shouted. "We'll stop at the second level!"
The man at the top responded nobly to the quick signals given to start and stop, and in a very short space of time the elevator stood at the second level. The bar was down, but Will threw it aside and stepped out into the passage. There he saw the bank cashier and the miner standing cowering against the wall only a few feet from the shaft.
"What are you doing here?" asked Will.
"We started to the top," the miner replied, "but stopped here because we thought there might be need of our assistance on this level."
"Why on this level?" asked Will, observing that the miner was pretty thoroughly frightened. "I haven't heard of any disturbance here!"
"But there has been a disturbance here!" insisted the cashier. "We heard scuffling out there in the darkness, but as we had no lights, we could not investigate. My friend, the miner, had a light on the lower level, but he lost it as we made our way out to the shaft."
"Has any one passed up the shaft?" asked Will.
The miner shook his head.
"Then we're on time all right!" cried Will exultantly. "We have the outlaws headed off!"
The heavy voices of the two men who had been left on the lower level now came rumbling up the shaft.