Something was happening!
Cliff seemed to be moving crazily—or was it Cliff and another.
Tom deserted his post and raced across the turf. Then he shouted, pointed his small revolver aloft, pressed the trigger.
Crash! And the camp started up. The jaws had shut and the Andes were ready to crunch their prey.
CHAPTER XXXIII
NO WAY OUT?
While Cliff went to call Tom, Huayca, not too far away up the cleft, slipped closer and when he saw Cliff disappear into the gloomy ruin he whipped across the grass and into hiding at the ruins themselves.
He was within the guarded zone, therefore, when Tom took up his vigil.
But Cliff’s move to the ledge surprised Huayca. Also, it annoyed him: it might disrupt his plans. He counted on a surprise. He desired to remain silent until dawn, while men from the settlement crept up the pass. At dawn his plan was to shout and begin firing arrows into the camp. Then they would rush for the ladder and so plunge down into the arms of the men who would then be waiting in the pass.
But Cliff, as Huayca could tell when he crept close, flat on his stomach—Cliff was watching something. Perhaps one of the men had a light—down in the pass!
As Cliff turned, alarmed by whatever he saw, Huayca, a panther in quickness and a shadow in the gloom, leaped!