"Down the trail!"
"They're mounted!"
"Shoot 'em!"
"Don't let 'em escape!"
In a babel of voices, these warnings and commands were roared.
"Crouch down!" breathed Rogers. "If they shoot, we'll dash for the Cave. If they don't, we'll——"
Bang! crashed a volley. Then another and another.
With all speed possible, the troopers rushed up the mountainside while, as the reports rang out and reverberated among the mountains, wild were the wavings of torches by the manhunters too far away to join in the pursuit.
And under cover of the confusion, Red Rogers and his comrades gained the entrance to the "Breathing Cave."