"It's a passage!" cried Billee, holding his lantern above it. "An' big enough, even for me! I'm going down!"
"Will it be safe?" asked Nort. "It may lead into the stream, or to where they have planted a mine—they spoke of a fuse——"
"You've got to take chances in times like these!" declared Old Billee. "I guess if they went down it will suit us."
"Unless they can close it up, or turn water in," suggested Snake, dubiously.
"Git out! I'm going down!" stoutly declared the rather fleshy veteran cow puncher, and when he let himself down the hole the others followed.
There was a natural stairway, or what served the same purpose, leading down out of the stone room where the conspirators had been evidently plotting so far underground. The passage went down, at first, like a flight of steep, cellar stairs. Then it straightened out, and, after twists and turns, led upward.
"Where are we going?" asked Nort.
"Nobody knows!" grimly answered Bud. "But it's safe so far!"
"And we're right on their trail!" added Snake.
"How do you know?" asked Billee.