Although at times a rough laugh or a shouted curse reached our ears from the cavern below, there was no indication that Daggett or his band had yet made the discovery that the place had been visited in their absence, and the treasure for which they had risked so much abstracted from its sandy grave.
When twilight fell I arose and with some difficulty rolled the trousers to a place nearer the center of the rock, where there was a small natural hollow; and then Nux and I sat beside it and ate again sparingly of the food we had brought.
It was while we were thus occupied that an incident occurred that filled us with sudden panic. For before our faces a man’s head appeared above the edge of rock, and two dark eyes glared fixedly into our own.
At the moment I almost screamed with fright, so unnerved had my recent adventures rendered me; but Nux laid his broad hand across my mouth and arrested the outcry.
“It’s Bry,” he whispered, and even as he spoke the newcomer drew himself over the edge and crept on all fours to our side. I had no trouble in recognizing the friendly features then.
“Oh, Bry!” I said—softly, so as not to be heard by the robbers below—and clasped the black hands fervently in both my own.
Bry squatted beside us, his kindly face wreathed in smiles.
“Dey send me up here to see if anyone ’round,” he whispered. “In a minute I go back and say ‘no.’”
“Can’t you stay with us, Bry?” I asked, pleadingly.
“Not yet, Mars Sam. Dey very bad mans, down dere. Dey kill you quick if dey find you.”