t every turn there were branching
ways.

But Sanchez, the heavy-handed, was for going on,--and on they went,
shivering in the unaccustomed chill.

Pedro wondered what the rescue party would do when they found them gone.
If only he could leave some sign of his whereabouts! Could he drop his
handkerchief at one turning of the ways, his hat at another, without
detection? Or was it already too late? Why had he not thought of that
before?--Tucking one torch into the crook of the other elbow for a
moment, he dropped his bandanna as again they took the left-hand of two
turns.

But now their little flare of light revealed a blind passageway. The
water-worn rock had been hollowed out by some eddying pool, no doubt,
while the main stream had flown on past. How he wished he knew more of
cave formations! Should he find opportunity to escape, how would he ever
find his way out again?

Retracing their steps, they took the right hand turn. Here was another
high roofed vault,--he could not see how high, he could only guess from
the reverberation of their voices,--whose stalactites had become great
pillars that gleamed yellowly. The floor sloped toward them till they had
stiff climbing. On one wall was a limestone formation like a frozen
cataract. And thrust into the wall beside it he saw a torch stick. Who
had left it there, and what ages ago, he wondered? In this cavern some of
the stalactites hung as huge as tree trunks, and had not Sanchez bade the
others keep an extra eye on him, the lad might easily have hid behind one.

Some of these huge pillars were cracked with age, and again the thought
occurred to him that if only he might insert himself into one of the
cracks,--a few were all of a foot in width,--he could easily escape
detection in that uncertain light. But now he was under surveillance
every instant. Besides, (tardy thought), was he not pledged to keep an
eye on the villains? He smiled through his fears at the recollection that
they, not he, were captive.

Meantime Ace and Radcliffe, (leaving Ted to sleep off his exhaustion in
the cave mouth), were examining the onyx cavern and the ground outside
for some sign as to what had happened, and which way Pedro and the
Mexicans had gone. Radcliffe had his electric flash, and at the turn of
the winding passageway discovered scratches on the sandstone floor where
the burros had left hoof marks. But had they taken the turn to the right
or that to the left? There were hoof pri