[CHAPTER XXI.]
THE ESCAPE OF THE DOOMED.
Stareyes was right when she told Old Broadbrim on the range that Dick Waters was doomed to perish in the lower dungeon.
The young Briton, after his interview with Merle, had been shut up again in darkness, and with death staring him in the face.
The place seemed strong enough to hold a dozen men like him, and he had crept around the walls again and again in a vain attempt to find an outlet.
He was still on the hunt for one, when he heard a sound that thrilled him.
It was the cry of "Fire!" which penetrated to his prison, and caused him to hold his breath in anxiety and fear.
For some time he could not imagine what had caused the alarm, nor just where it was; but all at once the terrible truth flashed across his mind.
It was the ranch!
At the same time an awful thought took possession of Waters' brain, and he stood as one paralyzed in the darkness.