“And that’ll be as soon as Mrs. Ball telephones home to see that we arrived safely,” she added. Had she known at the time that two whole days were to elapse before the kidnapping was discovered, her courage might not have been quite so high. Perhaps it was fortunate that she remained in ignorance of this fact.
They were nearing the end of the canyon now, and Belle looked sharply about her. Here the cut seemed deeper than at any other place and the trail narrower, as though Nature wanted to end this scene with a setting of more than usual grandeur. The canyon walls fell straight away, ending at the gurgling stream far below them, and on either side the mountains arose, forming a protection from any storm which might try to invade this fastness. Belle, gazing for a moment down into the tremendous depths, shivered in spite of herself. A misstep here would mean quick, sure death.
Now the path dipped sharply for a short space, and, when they reached a level spot once more, the woman with the gun called:
“You stop here. Get off ponies.”
Wonderingly, the girls obeyed, noticing that the woman herself stayed mounted.
“Go ahead. Leave ponies,” was the next command. As the girls proceeded, their guard kept a careful eye on them. Not for a moment did the gun relax from its threat.
Before they had gone fifty feet Belle and the others saw the reason they were told to dismount. Ahead of them, hewn in the solid rock, was an entrance to a cavern of some sort. Behind its rough, wooden door it was intensely dark, and the girls caught themselves thinking that if they were compelled to enter this cave they might never see the light of day again. But as they approached they saw that the entrance led to a wide, airy room of rock, beyond which a light of some sort glowed. This light was not visible from the outside.
Now the woman slid from her horse and walked toward the girls.
“You go in,” she said shortly, motioning with the gun barrel.
“In there?” Ethel gasped, her face pale.