Sam crept in first and waited for his companion to follow. Mr. Havens sprang at the ledge of the opening, which was some feet above the level of the shelf on which he stood, and lifted himself by his arms. As he did so a fragment of rock under one hand gave way and he dropped back.
In saving himself he threw out both feet and reached for a crevice in the wall. This would have been an entirely safe procedure if his feet had not come with full force against one of the boulders overlooking the valley.
He felt the stone move under the pressure, and the next instant, with a noise like the discharge of a battery of artillery, the great boulder crashed down the almost perpendicular face of the precipice and was shattered into a thousand fragments on a rock which lay at the verge of the stream below.
With a soft cry of alarm, Sam bent over the ledge which protected the opening and seized his employer by the collar. It was quick and desperate work then, for it was certain that every person within a circuit of many miles had heard the fall of the boulder.
Doubtless in less than a minute the occupants of the fortress—if such there were—would be on their feet ready to contest the entrance of the midnight visitors.
“We’ve got to get into some quiet nook mighty quick,” Sam whispered in Mr. Havens’ ear as the latter was drawn through the opening. “I guess the ringing of that old door-bell will bring the ghost out in a hurry!”
The two crouched in an angle of the wall at the front interior of the place and listened. Directly a light flashed out at the rear of what seemed to the watchers to be an apartment a hundred yards in length. Then footsteps came down the stone floor and a powerful arc light filled every crevice and angle of the great apartment with its white rays.
There was no need to attempt further concealment. The two sprang forward, reaching for their automatics, as three men with weapons pointing towards them advanced under the light.
“I guess,” Sam whispered, “that this means a show-down.”
“There’s no getting out of that!” whispered Havens. “We have reached the end of the journey, for the man in the middle is Redfern!”