Here the boys halted, dark forebodings clutching at their hearts.
Phil drew his revolver, and fired twice into the air. The noise of the reports almost deafened them, the sound caroming from the narrow walls and echoing away down the complicated passages.
The boys listened for some answering sound from their missing comrade, and their hearts leaped as they heard a muffled explosion in the distance.
“Thank heaven,” exclaimed Phil, fervently, and forgetful for the moment of caution, he and Dick hastened in the direction from which the shot had seemed to come. Phil fired again, and this time the answering report was much nearer. At last, turning a corner, they caught sight of Tom’s flashlight, burning dimly through the darkness.
“Hurray!” yelled Phil and Dick, and were answered by a welcoming shout from Tom. The friends raced toward each other, and in a few moments were laughing and pounding each other joyously.
Tom, it turned out, had stopped to struggle with a refractory shoelace, and when he had finally got it fixed had run after his two friends, expecting to catch up with them at once. When he saw no sign of them, however, he knew that he must have taken a wrong turn, and had about given himself up for lost when he heard the distant report of Phil’s revolver.
“Well, let’s get out of this, quick,” said Phil, when Tom had finished. “This place is hoodooed, and the sooner we’re out in the sunshine again the better I’ll like it.”
But this was not so easily to be accomplished. While searching for Tom, the others had been so anxious over him that they had failed to take careful note of their route, and now, after half an hour of wandering in the endless passages, they were forced to admit that they were hopelessly lost.
CHAPTER XVI
The Race for Life
When this fact became apparent to them, they stopped and held a council.