CHAPTER XV.
THE BRIDGE OF CLOUDS.
There seemed to be no end to the stairway. It wound and twisted about in a bewildering fashion, and, before they reached the top, Frank and Archie came to the conclusion that they had either been a long way under the ground, or else that the rancho was a much taller building than they had imagined it to be. At last, however, their guide pushed open a door, and the boys found themselves in the same room to which he had conducted them when they first arrived at the rancho. Still closely followed by his watchful companions, the Don went straight across the room, and stopped in front of a wardrobe.
“Now, leetle poys,” said he, addressing himself to Archie, “you got the keys. Make dis door open.”
Archie quickly found a key that would fit the lock, and when the boys entered the wardrobe, they discovered that, although it was used as a receptacle for clothing, it was intended to conceal a door that led into some secret apartment. When this door had been opened—it was so heavy that it taxed Archie’s strength to the utmost to move it—the cousins found themselves in a room, about twenty feet square, which had one peculiarity that they noticed as soon as they crossed the threshold. There was not a single opening in it; and when Archie had shut the door, they found themselves surrounded on all sides by rough stone walls. Even the door itself, which closed behind them with the sharp click of a spring lock, could not be seen.
“I say, Don,” exclaimed Frank, “what use do you make of this dungeon? I don’t see any thing stowed away here.”
The chief’s answer was not given in words. He was standing close by Frank’s side, and before the latter could move, he had suddenly jerked the lantern from his hand, and dashed it upon the floor, smashing it into a thousand pieces, and extinguishing the light. As quick as thought Frank bounded forward, and made a blind clutch at the place where he had last seen the Don, but with no other result than to come in violent contact with the wall. A moment afterward, the astonished and bewildered boys heard a grating sound at the other side of the room, and the Don’s voice calling to them through the darkness.
“Dis ish all right,” said he. “Dere’s somethings shtowed away here now, ain’t it? It’s petter you shtays here awhile.”