The silence in the cave was profound, the occupants, if any, not betraying their presence by the least sound. Cautiously the boys advanced, pausing now and then as they approached the place where the surprise had occurred, to listen and gaze as far as they could into the heavy darkness; but all was silence.
“I think they have gone,” said Jo at length, in a voice in which there was a tremor of excitement.
“No, there they are,” replied Tom in a whisper.
“Where?” asked Jim.
“There!” responded Tom, indicating several suspended skeletons of full length which were held against the walls, and which the light now revealed.
“Oh,” said Jo, “it wasn’t them.”
“Well, one of them was,” returned Tom, “for I felt his hand on me.”
“Must have been this one, then,” said Jim, kicking a group of bones with his foot. “Here is one of them lying on the floor. You must have knocked him out, Tom.”
“Here, Jo, is your gun all right,” interposed Juarez.