A slight noise behind him caused him to turn. The next instant a dozen men sprang upon him and bore him to the ground.
Jupiter, the dog, endeavored to render his master some assistance, but a blow from a heavy club stretched the animal senseless on a slab of rock.
Then Lacy’s hands were securely bound behind him, and his captors, who were a queer-looking set, raised him to his feet.
They began talking rapidly in some unknown tongue, and at length decided to take their prisoner down the decline to the cave below.
Lacy did not offer the least resistance, but with a strange, hunted look in his eyes he walked along with his captors.
They took him to a cavern where there were a number of strange men already assembled, and where Lacy observed another prisoner lying on the ground, bound hand and foot.
After a short consultation, a couple of men walked over to the prostrate man and liberated him, save untying his hands.
Even then the man did not look up, but kept his eyes fixed on the ground in a sullen manner.
But Reginald Lacy was gazing at him with a look of fear upon his face.
It was his enemy, Philander Owens!