"All right," said Harry. "Lead on."
They hurried along the passage and came to a flight of rickety wooden steps.
Joe Ding stopped to listen.
"It is all right," he said. "You don't hear anything, do you?"
"Not a sound."
"Good! Come!"
They started up the steps then.
Joe Ding, we should have mentioned, carried an ordinary lantern.
The Chinaman was ahead, and no sooner had he reached the top of the steps than he ran against trouble.
Instantly three Chinamen rose up from the floor and flung themselves upon him.