"We are not out of danger yet, but I'll thank you to let me have that automatic you picked up back there. It's mine!"
"Come on, now, hand it over," continued the other.
"Where did you get it?" whispered Ned. "Can you prove what you say?"
"Of course I can!" replied the other. "I'm a bird man, and that is part of my equipment. You have no right to it!"
A louder detonation than any they had heard yet drowned Ned's reply. The walls in the passage seemed shaking as if about to fall. From the passage in their rear came shrieks and groans. An odor of sulphur came blowing upon their backs. A crashing and grinding noise filled the air. Jack and Harry closed in upon the others.
"Let's get out of here as quick as we can," urged Ned.
"We're at the end of the passage!" declared the guide. "That blast has probably filled the corridor back of us with rubbish. Unless we can dig a way out of it, we're buried alive!"