“Confound it, you should not have to call them. Why didn’t you get ready for action when you heard my first whistle?”
“Didn’t suppose there was going to be any trouble of this kind. You ought to have watched him more careful——”
“Well, well. Never mind that now. He is pulling away fast, and every moment is precious.”
“Yes, we’re coming. Can’t you tell a fellow what kind of a job it is, Snags?”
“No, not till I see Roake. I don’t know much about it myself yet. Only it’s life or death to get that chap that’s leaving us so fast.”
By this time four men had emerged from an aperture in the rocks, and were hastening to the shore.
“Take two boats, branch out, head him in—be sure that you catch him!” shouted Snags, and before he had fairly ceased speaking, the pursuers were pulling from the shore.
They rowed rapidly, and with a certainty and confidencethat betokened an intimate knowledge of the locality.
Snags now turned toward the perpendicular ascent of rock and entered the aperture from which the men had emerged. He stepped into what was apparently a small fissure in the rocks, overhung by a projecting crag.
He proceeded for some distance through a dark passage, and then emerged into a large apartment, dimly lighted by a high, swinging lamp.