“You’re to stay here out of sight,” Phil explained quietly. “If we need help I’ll fire my revolver.”
With a parting caution the midshipmen stealthily followed their guide up the street, hugging the dark shadow of the houses, and entered the wide archway of a large native building. Inside was total darkness, and it needed all their confidence in the girl who had invited them to come to still their awakening suspicions.
The guide gave a low whistle and the slight sound caused their hearts to beat faster amid the profound silence within.
“Señores, you have come,” a woman’s musical voice dispelled their fears. “Please step this way; I am sorry there can be no light.”
Phil quietly led the way in the direction of the voice, and his eyes soon discerned the figure of the girl, a darker object among the surrounding gloom. He felt a warm, confiding hand in his, and allowed himself to be led deeper into the blackness of the building.
The midshipmen followed blindly; their eyes, unaccustomed to the darkness, could see nothing. They knew from an occasional contact with a wall that they were in a narrow passage and from the damp odor they knew it must be some depth below the ground. Several times their heavily shod feet slipped on the muddy floor, and occasionally they could hear the tinkly drip of water. The passageway led gradually downward, the dampness increasing.
Finally the girl stopped and the sound of the heavy breathing of the four people filled the narrow limits of their surroundings.
“These are underground passages, built years ago during a threatened uprising of the natives against the Spaniards,” Señorita Rodriguez whispered. “This passage leads to the secret chamber of the ‘Sociedad de Katipunan.’ To be present at a meeting the penalty for a non-member is to take the oath or suffer death. Only the direst necessity has brought me here to-night. I have no right to ask you, señores,” she said pleadingly, “to take this great risk for my sake, and if you so decide we can now turn back. Lopez, my father’s trusted patron, will go with me.”
“We will go with you, señorita,” Phil answered without a second’s hesitation. “What are we to see?” he asked, unable to control his curiosity at the mystery of it all.
“Come, you shall discover for yourself,” she said as she moved forward, her hand still in Phil’s, while Sydney held his companion by the coat sleeve and Lopez, as noiseless as an Apache, brought up the rear. “The meeting will not take place for some time, and meanwhile we shall have time to talk.”