The light glowed dim from a passage near the foot of the stairs. The hammering had ended. Betty could hear only a slight scuffling.
She sensed the coldness of the stone floor as she stepped softly to the end of the passage. She peered around the corner.
THREE men were working, some twenty feet away. Their backs were turned as they pushed against the side of a square steel post that formed a support against the wall. Their efforts ended as one man grunted a command.
Betty shrank away. Then, realizing that she was in a fringe of darkness, she pulled her gown closely about her and continued to peer at the scene before her.
Two of the men were half facing her. One was still working at the pillar.
And of the two whose features were visible to Betty, one was Bob!
The other was a stranger whose sullen features and heavy jaw gave him a pugnacious expression.
“Rest up a minute,” came Bob’s voice. Betty disliked the tone.
“Hear that, Clink?” questioned the big man, turning toward the one who was pushing at the post. “Lay off, Maddox is bossing this job.”
“Listen, Briggs,” growled Bob, “I’ll talk to Clink. And lay off that Maddox stuff. That’s the second time you’ve slipped up!”