The watchers sighed with relief. They were in time, and the coup had begun well. Without warning another man appeared. The sandbag descended on his head as he set foot in the open. Two of the sailors caught him as he sagged, and lowered body and plunder to the ground. Quickly others of the crew dragged both away.
Captain McDonnell counted the seconds as they passed. Dare, his heart beating at a suffocating rate, did likewise. Three men then appeared so close behind each other that the last emerged before his predecessor could be dragged from his path. His suspicions were aroused, but before he could cry out the sandbag fell once again. There was a dull report as man and packages crashed to the earth, but no alarm was taken. Five more men appeared in quick succession. Each was treated in similar fashion, and the whole proceeding was carried out so expertly that those in the cave had not the slightest suspicion of the Nemesis on their track.
"I think that's all the shore crew," whispered Dare, when the tenth man had been trussed. "I counted ten the other time."
"We'll wait five minutes," said Captain McDonnell. "Then, before those in the cave can get uneasy about these fellows, we'll signal your father and he can take them by surprise as we planned."
The five minutes passed without anyone appearing. Captain McDonnell then took an electric torch from his pocket and made his way to the edge of the cliff. Holding the torch so that it would be visible from below, he flashed it on and off—three long and one short. He waited anxiously for a minute, then saw a single spot of light show for an instant below. His signal had been received. He hurried back to the waiting crew.
The latter were in a tremendous state of excitement, for they were looking forward to a fight. Hitherto, although the adventure had been of a sporting character, it had not proved exceptionally thrilling. But if, as they expected, Captain McDonnell gave the order to descend into the cave, there would certainly be a fight, and not one of them but, like overgrown schoolboys, was excited by the prospect.
Captain McDonnell noted the change in their attitude and smiled to himself in the darkness. "We'll give the boat five minutes to get into the cave, men," he said cheerfully. But before the five minutes had expired there came from the sea, in the vicinity of the cave, the report of a rifle.
"They've begun!" shouted Captain McDonnell, throwing aside all caution with the disappearance of the need for it. "After me, men!" He leapt into the bushes and disappeared. With a hearty cheer the crew precipitately followed his example. They could be heard tumbling down and shouting warnings to those behind them, warnings which were totally disregarded, for in that moment not one of the party had a thought for his own neck, and they would have leapt a precipice if there was a fight going on at the bottom of it.
Dare, as the youngest and weakest, had been forced to the tail-end of the procession. His turn soon came, however. He leapt into the bushes as recklessly as any of his predecessors and fell with a resounding bump for a distance of ten feet, for at the entrance to the cave the stair was absolutely perpendicular. He picked himself up, felt for broken bones, and not finding any made his way as fast as possible after the rest of the crew. The formation of the passage was such that the tremendous din of the cave did not penetrate it. All Dare could hear was the shouts of the crew ahead. Flares such as he had viewed from the Mary's deck lighted his way. The stair followed a zigzag course, and suddenly he found himself in full sight and hearing of the cave. It was about sixty feet below him.
The flares revealed the Mary lying by the side of the rock. On her deck were struggling demoniac figures, staggering like drunken men from one rail to the other. And below him, just above the landing-place, Captain McDonnell and his crew were encountering those of the smugglers who, seeing the danger from the sea, had attempted to escape by the stair.