The last exclamation was caused by a sound in the narrow passage resembling the rolling of a heavy body on trucks. It came from the passage behind them, and filled with no little fear and curiosity, they turned and began to retrace their footsteps.
They had gone but a few steps when they heard the hollow, rumbling noise again, and what was their surprise and horror to see an immense rock slide out from the great wall and completely block their passage.
Ralph raised the torch above his head and turned to Willis, speechless with terror.
At that instant a wild, demoniac laugh of triumph, that seemed to issue from the lips of a legion of fiends, greeted the young men’s ears as it echoed through the hollow chambers of the cavern.
They were entrapped in the den of mountain robbers!
In the meanwhile Ebony Jim, hearing the yells of laughter proceeding from the interior, quickly divined the cause, and knowing that he could be of no assistance to the young men, dashed off at a great speed into the forest.
For several hours he pursued his way, his intention being to hunt up Flick O’Flynn, and daylight found him many miles from the robber’s cave.
He had begun to feel satisfied that he had escaped his white enemies when, as he was passing through a narrow defile, his ear caught the sound of footsteps, and the next instant he saw three dark figures coming directly toward him.
Quick as thought he swung himself upward into the branches of a thick tree, and lying at length upon a large limb, he anxiously awaited the approach of the party.