“Nix!” answered Jimmie. “We’ve got to let it burn until he turns into the passage where the whiskey is. If he sees there’s no light where he left one, he’ll come chasing back on the run.”
Directly the man turned into the north passage and then Jimmie shut off the light. Together the boys moved softly toward the entrance. They passed the junction of the two corridors with extreme caution for they had no means of knowing how far into the interior the guard had wandered.
When they came nearer to the entrance they saw a mist of daylight. They moved faster now, for they knew very well that their figures were outlined against the dawn. Should the guard suddenly make his appearance he would not need to travel back to the dungeon in order to inform himself of their escape.
“Do you hear the motors of the Ann now?” whispered Jimmie.
“Not a sound!” was the answer.
“If we only had our automatics,” Jimmie wailed, “we could step out into the gully with some confidence.”
“I don’t believe there’s any one out there!” declared Carl.
The boys, however, were not permitted to remain long in doubt as to the situation in the gully outside the cavern. While they waited the guard came running down the cavern shooting wildly as he advanced.
“Me for daylight!” shouted Jimmie.
When the lads reached the gully, they saw the Ann hovering over the mountainside. Her planes glistened in the sunlight, and she seemed to the anxious boys to represent everything that was desirable, freedom, breakfast, and the chance to sleep!