"It's a blind alley!" said Joe, in a hushed voice.
Frank merely nodded. He had been buoying up his hopes by refusing to admit to himself that the tunnel could be anything else than an outlet to the mine. Now he was overwhelmed by disappointment.
"We're up against it," he said at last. "This tunnel leads nowhere and the shaft is blocked."
"I'm afraid so."
Joe tapped the crowbar tentatively against the wall of rock. It thudded dully. There was no hollow sound that might indicate another tunnel beyond. The dull ring of the iron bar seemed to sound their death-knell.
"I guess this is our finish, Frank," he said gravely.
CHAPTER XIV
Attacked by the Outlaws
The Hardy boys were so profoundly discouraged by the discovery that the tunnel, their sole hope of safety, ended in nothing but a blank wall of rock, that for a while they sat in the gloom, scarcely speaking. Their plight was perilous and there seemed not the slightest ray of hope.