"I hope you don't intend to do that!" cried Joe, in alarm. "If you do, you will get into trouble as sure as the world. Beyond a doubt, there was a man behind the bushes."
"Of course there was," assented Bob. "But you need not worry about me. I shall not allow my excitement to lead me into anything reckless."
Tom Hallet, who was leading the way, took a short cut through the woods, and his route did not take him and his companions within a mile of Joe Morgan's cabin.
If they had gone there, instead of holding a straight course for the gorge, they might have been in time to see something surprising. They did not know that the enemy was operating in the rear while they were marching upon his stronghold, but they found it out afterward.
They moved along as silently as so many Indians, and when they reached the gorge, spread themselves out along the brink, looking for a place that gave promise of an easy descent to the bottom.
Before they had made many steps, Joe uttered an exclamation of astonishment, and with a motion of his hand, called his companions to his side.
"This is the spot we are looking for," said he, in a suppressed whisper. "Push the bushes aside and you will see it."
Tom did so, and, sure enough, there was a clearly-defined path, which seemed to run straight down to the brook below.
It looked more like an archway than anything else to which we can compare it, for the tops of the bushes were entwined above it, and they were so dense and matted that they shut out every ray of the sun.
"Now what's to be done?" whispered Bob. "No doubt the path leads straight down to their hiding-place, and I am free to confess that I don't want to come upon them before I know it."