With a well-simulated cry of surprise, he leaped to his feet, and stood staring, and Madge did the same.
"A secret hidin' place!" cried out the supposed old man—and he pushed the rock farther in, thus making the opening even larger.
Then he stooped forward toward it.
"Hello in there!" he called lustily, for he wished to warn Patsy of what was taking place, and at the same time to instruct him what to do. "Come out of that, you—Pat! There are two of us here, and one is Madge herself. Come out of that!"
"You fool!" exclaimed Madge.
"Come out of that!" repeated the detective, pretending not to hear her. "Come out of that, or we'll come in after you!"
There was no reply, and Nick turned to her.
"Come along," he said. "We'll go inside and find him."
She had a revolver in her hand, and now she stepped quickly forward, for there was nothing of the coward about Black Madge. There was not a thing on earth that she feared.
She stepped forward so quickly that she had passed inside the barrier of rock before Nick—as he intended she should—and then, as he stepped after her, he seized her quickly from behind—seized both her arms, and pulled them behind her with a suddenness that made her drop her weapon to the rocky floor.