"Quick, Inza!" urged Frank—"cut these ropes! Set me free! It's our opportunity!"
Immediately she stooped and obeyed. Frank rose as quick as possible.
"Red Ben," he declared, "you'll not lose by this act of manhood! I'll remember you."
"Take gal that way," urged the Indian, with a jerk of his head. "Git out of cave that way! Quick! Ben him foller."
Merry did not delay. Grasping Inza, he hurried her into the darkness. The cave narrowed, the walls closed in, and the roof came down. Crouching and feeling their way, they pressed on. Almost on hands and knees they crept out into the open air amid a thick screen of brush and shrubbery that concealed the mouth of the cave.
"Thank Heaven!" murmured Inza, on the verge of collapsing.
"Where is that Indian?" cried Frank. "I cannot leave him alone to face those men."
"No leave him," said a voice, as Red Ben came leaping out from the cave. "Him here. Back up, keep um odders front of gun all time. They come now prit' quick. Go, Merriwell, with gal. Ben stop um here."
He sought cover near the mouth of the cave, urging Merry to get Inza away. Then came one of the baffled villains hurrying from the cave. A spout of flame leaped from Red Ben's rifle and the report awoke the mountain echoes and started a few loose pebbles rolling on the steep slope above them.
The pursuer dropped just outside the mouth of the cave. If others were close behind him, they halted instantly, not caring to show themselves and share his fate.