up. If you are dry, Handsome, suppose you go to
the camp and get something for us all. I wouldn't mind having something
myself."

"I'll do it," said Handsome, rising. "Wait here."

He was off like a shot, for now he felt that he knew the route
sufficiently well through the caverns to find his way without
difficulty; as, indeed, he did. And he had a lantern to light his path.

Nick sat quietly until Handsome was well out of hearing, and then,
purposely, he leaned very hard against the rock behind him--so hard that
it moved, and he nearly fell upon his back inside the opening.

With a well-simulated cry of surprise, he leaped to his feet, and stood
staring, and Madge did the same.

"A secret hidin' place!" cried out the supposed old man--and he pushed
the rock farther in, thus making the opening even larger.

Then he stooped forward toward it.

"Hello in there!" he called lustily, for he wished to warn Patsy of what
was taking place, and at the same time to instruct him what to do. "Come
out of that, you--Pat! There are two of us here, and one is Madge
herself. Come out of that!"

"You fool!" exclaimed Madge.

"Come out of that!" repeated the detective, pretending not to hear her.
"Come out of that, or we'll come in after you!"

There was no reply, and Nick turned to her.

"Come along," he said. "We'll go inside and find him."

She had a revolver in her hand, and now she stepped quickly forward, for
there was nothing of the coward about Black Madge. There was not a thing
on earth that she feared.

She stepped forward so quickly that she had passed inside the barrier of
rock before Nick--as he intended she should--and then, as he stepped
after her, he seized her quickly from behind--seized both her arms, and
pulled them behind her with a suddenness that made her drop her weapon
to the rocky floor.

As he pulled her backward, she tried to cry out, but he had anticipated
that, and already he had grasped her so that he could press one of his
hands for an instant over her mouth, and at the same moment he called
out:

"Quick, Patsy! On your life! There isn't an instant to spare!"

And Patsy was ready and fully prepared.

He had approached them through the darkness at the first note of warning
from Nick, and was in reality only a few feet distant when they entered
the rocky passage; so that when the detective seized upon Madge and
pulled her backward, Patsy was ready to leap forward and to give his
aid.