“Haw, haw,” called Malemute. “You’ll be the one to do the skidaddlin’ when we finish with yuh.”
Silence followed, while Dick strained his eyes to see from whence the voice came.
“It’s from the cave,” Sandy whispered.
Nerves at snapping pitch, the young adventurers awaited the orders of the scout, who was mumbling to himself. Malemute was about to order a blind advance, when four dark forms leaped out of the rocks behind them. Dick Kent had a momentary vision of Malemute Slade pinned under two men, then something crashed down upon his head and all went black.
CHAPTER XXVI
LOST UNDERGROUND
Dick Kent regained consciousness slowly. His head pained severely, and as he passed his hand through his hair his fingers encountered something warm and sticky. All was silent in the canyon. He sat up with a start, all coming back to him—the mysterious voice from the canyon wall, the surprise attack, the blow that had felled him.
“Sandy! Sandy!” he shouted hoarsely. But the dark canyon gave back his voice in a hollow echo. There was no answer.
“Where have they gone?” Dick wondered. “Have they been killed or captured?”
He got dizzily to his feet and stumbled along the canyon, feeling his way. Almost immediately, he felt a depression in the rock. In the starlight a dark hole yawned in the wall.
“The cave!” he exulted.