As rapidly as he could Joe sprang to his feet. A good bit of his wind had been knocked out of him, but he felt that he must not delay, and he ran for the outer air gasping for breath.
"Hi! stop!" roared Matt Gilroy, catching sight of him at last. "Stop, I tell you!"
"A boy!" ejaculated Nat Potts. "He must have been hiding in here!"
"If he was he overheard too much," growled Gilroy. "Come, we must catch him by all means," and he ran after Joe, with Potts following.
CHAPTER IV.
LOST IN THE FOREST.
"I must get away from them!"
This was the one thought which surged through Joe Moore's brain as he dashed from the cave in the mountain. He felt that if he was captured it would go hard with him. Did the desperadoes learn that he had overheard their conversation, they might make his very life pay the forfeit.
Forward he pitched, into the rain and the inky darkness, not knowing in what direction and just then caring but little. His one idea was to put distance between himself and his pursuers.