Silently they moved forward until presently, from the sound of their footfalls, Phil knew that the walls had receded and that they had entered a large chamber.
“The stairs, señor,” Maria whispered, and the lads found themselves mounting earthen steps. Again their feet struck wooden boards and they knew that they had ascended from the passage and were in a large room directly over the one which they had just left.
“This is the old Spanish inquisition room,” the girl said in a low voice, “and a fitting meeting-place for the Katipunan murderers. But come, they may be here any moment.”
Phil admired the daring of this frail girl. She had led them into the very nest of these traitorous outlaws, for it now dawned upon him what was the true meaning of these meetings.
“Do they enter the same way as we have come?” he asked anxiously, casting an apprehensive glance behind him.
“No,” Maria answered, a smile on her face as she felt the lad’s hand tremble imperceptibly on her own. “We are not in the room; it is beyond us, as you shall see soon. We are in a covered gallery which is secret and known to but few even of the society. The passage through which we came has not been used for years, and until last night was closed with earth. Lopez has spent all day with some of his most trusty men clearing it in order that we might pass.”
Phil cautiously peered about him, but his eyes could not penetrate the darkness. He knew that his feet were on boards, and that his hand rested upon a wall which was rough and dry. Then suddenly as if by a flash of lightning a vivid picture of his surroundings was shown him.
“They are coming,” Maria whispered in a startled voice. “Lie down and for your life do not speak.” The next second all was again blackness. The lads and their companions had noiselessly thrown themselves down on the floor and were holding their breath in an agony of suspense. The cool handle of Phil’s revolver, which he had unconsciously drawn from its holster, brought back his confidence. At least they would not die without some injury to their enemy.
Again came the flash of light; it flickered and seemed on the point of extinction, and then continued dimly. Phil recognized that this time the match had not gone out in the room over which their gallery looked, and that a candle was dimly burning. Then another and another candle was lighted and little by little the great room was exposed to their view.
Figures of men could be seen clustered about a table in the far end of the hall, some seated in chairs, but most of them on the ground in native fashion, while beyond the table was a niche in which an image glittered. The midshipmen soon discovered that it was an exaggerated emblem of the Katipunan society which they had seen on insurgent flags; the sun within a flaming triangle, all of pure silver.