The words were hardly out of his mouth when the back of Wild's blade struck the villain's wrist.
Uttering a cry of pain, Roche dropped his weapon.
Then he staggered back and picked up a stone.
Crack!
One of the miners fired and the man reeled, and, letting go the stone, dropped to the ground, dead.
Our hero now went into the cave, for the twelve men who had survived were all tied hard and fast.
It was only natural that he should want to look around the cave, and one of the first things he came across was the paint that had been used to make the signs, or some just like it.
A brush was found, and he painted the following across the entire breadth of the curtain:
"Closed for Repairs—No More Toll Collected in the Pass!"
"I reckon that looks all right, don't it, boys?" he called out to the miners.