As O'Toole saw before him Del Norte, with a white bandage about his head, the face of the Irishman turned ashen gray and his knees smote together.
"Howly saints!" he groaned. "It is the dead aloive!"
A moment later, uttering a wild shriek of terror, he turned and ran blindly toward the precipice close at hand, over which he rushed, being unable to check himself when he reached the brink.
As the poor fellow fell he uttered another shriek, which was followed by the silence of death.
CHAPTER VIII.
AT THE FOOT OF THE PRECIPICE.
The strange disappearance of O'Toole, who was unaccountably missing, caused much wonderment among the searchers for Inza Burrage and her captors.
There were at least thirty of these searchers in that vicinity, Frank Merriwell being their leader.
Some hunters camped on the northeastern shore of Lake Placid had seen Del Norte and his companions, having the girl a captive, land at a certain point after leaving the island, conceal the boat and canoe there, and then strike into the wilderness.