"They've done something!" cried Bud, "and we've got to find out what it is."
"Did you hear that about a fuse?" demanded Snake. "Maybe they're going to blow the place up!"
"If they do, and the tunnel caves in, good-bye to my water!" said Bud.
"Yes, and good-night to us!" grimly added Old Billee.
"Come on!" cried Yellin' Kid. "Let's see what's up there in that hole in the wall, anyhow!"
"And have your guns ready!" warned Snake Purdee.
However, as it developed, the weapons were not needed. When the boy ranchers and their friends managed to scramble up the rocky way, above and to the right of the second hidden, branching stream, and found themselves in what was virtually a little natural recess hollowed out of the rocky wall, they saw that it was deserted.
But there were plain evidences of the fact that the men they had seen had fled in a hurry, as, indeed, they had practically witnessed. Playing cards, cigarettes, tobacco and bottles were scattered on a rude wooden table, and there were several candle-ends stuck in the necks of flasks. The smell of the extinguished candles was heavy on the air.
"But where did they go?" asked Bud, when a hasty glance around the rocky room disclosed no occupants.
"What's that?" asked Dick, pointing to what seemed to be a hole in the floor at one corner.