"Don't be alarmed, boys," he said. "I tell you he is not armed. I took his guns away from him, and he has had no chance to get others. We must have him down from there!"
"There is only one way to get me," said Dick.
"And we will take that way."
"At your peril."
Captain Joaquin was no coward. He started forward at once, calling on his men to follow.
The men responded, reassured by the word of their leader, as well as by his own intrepid example, and followed the Red Rover up the steep ascent with their torches.
"Hold!"
Deadwood Dick so ordered.
They stopped and looked up, as men in their position naturally would do.
"You will advance another step at your peril," Dick warned them. "I am safe from your bullets, but you are in plain open sight there, and it seems a pity to pick you off."