"Get up, boys. Take hold of one another. Follow me quickly!"
Had Kaw-Kaw returned to her den just then, she would have been filled with amazement at the file of men, who threaded their way through the maze of pots, tripods and implements dear to the heart of the sorceress, led by the lithe, slim maiden.
But her amazement would have turned to alarm had she seen them enter a second cave, which led from the first, the existence of which she thought she herself alone knew.
So low was the opening into the inner den that the bandits were forced to drop to their hands and knees.
"This is a fool's stunt, getting in farther instead of—" began Frank.
But his words were frozen in his mouth by a terrible, hair-raising growl that sounded from the recesses of the cave.
"No 'fraid, no 'fraid!" gasped Dew Drop hurriedly. "Um Wa-Wa, Kaw-Kaw bear. Um no hurt."
"Sure not, his growl doesn't sound fierce, I don't think!" ejaculated Wild Bill.
But the Indian maiden, laughing softly, quickly allayed their fears by adding: