Sherry and the boys looked at one another dumfounded. None of them had known, as Migwan did, that the brown robe and cowl presumably covered Hercules. They looked about for the brown figure that had moved so unobtrusively amongst them that evening. It had vanished.
“He’s gone!” shouted Sherry excitedly. “There’s something queer going on here.”
The monk was certainly not in the house any longer, and there were no footprints in the snow outside the house.
“Did he fly away?” asked Sherry in perplexity.
Justice jumped up with a great exclamation. “The secret passage!” he shouted, “he’s gone down the secret passage!”
They flew back inside the house to the stair landing, half expecting to find it standing open, but it was closed and looked perfectly natural. Sherry grasped the post, the landing slid out and the four went down the ladder. Justice gave a triumphant exclamation when he reached the bottom. “The barricades are taken down! He did come this way!”
They hurried through the door into the passage, half expecting to see a figure flying along ahead of them, but the passage was empty and no sound of a footfall broke the silence. They searched the place thoroughly, but nowhere did they find their man hidden. Behind the chest in the cave, however, Justice pounced upon something with a shout. It was the long brown costume that had been worn by the monk at the party.
CHAPTER XV
HERCULES’ STORY
When Sherry and the boys returned from their fruitless chase Hercules had regained consciousness, and was telling Nyoda in a shaking voice that he felt better, but he was still too weak to sit up.
“Mah time’s come, Mis’ ’Lizbeth,” he said mournfully. “I’se a goner.”