The accusation added to the general alarm. Raoul protested scornfully; but before he had time to clear himself he was covered by two huge revolvers, drawn simultaneously by Herran and Miranda.
“It is not so easy!” threatened Miranda, whose excited flourish of firearms endangered the others quite as much as it did Raoul.
“Thank heaven, we have guns!” murmured Andrew, who had produced a harmless looking pocket-knife which he brandished ineffectively.
“This sort of thing is very annoying,” said Leighton, addressing Raoul, who began to show uneasiness. “There’s no denying that your disappearance was suspicious. Then we find you here in a place that is evidently known and frequented by others. Your explanation is unsatisfactory. Then, when the presence of these hitherto invisible people is quite certain, you try to divert our attention from them.”
“You are talking nonsense,” said Raoul disgustedly. “You intimate that I am in league with the inhabitants of this cave against you. That means, I must have lured you here deliberately to do you harm. Please remember that it was you who planned this expedition, and that I had not ventured in here so far before.”
“Who knows! You seemed familiar enough with the secret of the Black Magnet.”
“Take us out of here, my fellow, and we believe you are not one scamp,” said Miranda brusquely.
“I am not bound to do anything of the kind, even if I could,” retorted Raoul. “Look out for yourselves.”
“So! that is good,” commented Miranda. “We take the advice. Here we can do nothing. Into Guatavita we cannot jump through this well. Me—I am too fat!”
The bustling doctor’s show of energy proved infectious. He and Herran unceremoniously pocketed their revolvers, leaving Raoul at liberty to do as he pleased, while they looked about for a way of escape.