The head of the band was not taken.
"Disperse—seek him everywhere!" ordered Del' Peyra.
The men ran in every possible direction. They searched every cranny.
"He has escaped up the ladder to the Last Refuge!" shouted one. The Last Refuge was the chamber excavated above the projecting roof of the castle, cut in the solid rock.
"He cannot," said another, "the ladder was the first thing to burn. See, it is in pieces now."
"If he be there," scoffed a third, "let him there abide. He can neither get up nor down."
"I do not think he is there. He is in Hell's Mouth."
This Hell's Mouth was the tortuous cavern opening upon the ledge of rock occupied by the castle.
"If he is there, who will follow him?" asked one.
"Aye! who—when the foul fiend will hide him."