"He nailed the wretch!" cried Frank, with satisfaction.
It was true, Clyde"s bullet knocked the man over in a twinkling, and he lay writhing amid the rocks.
"He is a brave boy," muttered Old Solitary. "It is a pity he cannot escape! He is but one of hundreds of brave hearts butchered by the Danites."
There was a lull far across the canyon.
"What is coming now?" speculated Frank. "The Danites seem dazed."
"Look, and you shall see what is coming," said Old Solitary, his fingers again closing on our hero"s arm. "You can see Clyde"s companion, the treacherous Graves. Watch; ah! I knew it!"
Graves was seen to rise behind Clyde, uplift some weapon in his hand, and strike the boy prostrate.
Then, with a yell that faintly reached the ears of the watching three, the Danites scrambled over the rocks.
"The tragedy is over," said Old Solitary, solemnly. "The deadly work is done. Poor boy!"
"Poor boy!" echoed Frank.
"It"s dearly th" spalpanes will pay fer this noight!" grated Barney Mulloy. "It"s nivver a bit will Oi hesitate about stoppin" wan av th"
divvils from b"rathin" av Oi get a chance."
"I do not think my conscience will trouble me much if I am forced to finish one of them," said Frank, huskily.
"They are beasts--human beasts!" declared Old Solitary. "It is not a sin to place such where they can do no harm to the rest of the world."
"Sin!" exclaimed Barney. "It"s a deed av charity!"
The Danites were seen leaning over their victim. In a few moments they lifted Clyde to his feet, and then it was evident that the boy had not been slain outright, but had been stunned long enough for them to make him their captive.
"It were better if they had killed him quickly," said Old Solitary.
"I don"t know about that," panted Frank. "Where there is life there is hope."
"All who enter this canyon may leave hope behind."
"Av they let th" poor lad live till to-night, we"ll do our bist fer him," said Barney.
"That we will," nodded Frank.
Clyde seemed to have recovered, and now he was marched along in the midst of his captors, who moved straight toward the pocket where the homes of the Danites were located.
For all of their situation, Frank Merriwell had not given up hope. He was young, and he still believed that all evil things come to an evil end, and all good things eventually triumph. He had not grown cynical and pessimistic.
Drawing back into the mouth of the cave, the trio watched the Danites march across the canyon with their captive.
Graves was with the men, and he no longer pretended to be friendly to the boy. At last Clyde knew him for what he actually was.
At length the entire party pa.s.sed from view on their way to the pocket.
Then Old Solitary led the boys back into the cave, where they ate breakfast, such as it was, and attempted to lay plans for the coming night.
It was a long, dreary, wretched day they spent in the cave. Many times they went to the opening where they could look down into the Danite village. Once they saw Uric Dugan, and once they saw Miskel, his daughter.
But the day pa.s.sed on, and, to their intense relief, they saw nothing to indicate that the captives were executed.
Night came at last.
The boys were eager to be astir. Their blood was throbbing hotly in their veins, and they felt capable of any deed of daring.
They looked to their weapons, making sure everything was ready for business, and then they followed Old Solitary from the cave.
The descent was slow and tedious, fraught with much peril, and long in the accomplishment. To the eager boys, it seemed that they would never get down.
The task was finally accomplished, and then they moved onward, with Old Solitary in the lead.
They had not gone far when a gasp of astonishment came from Frank"s lips, and he clutched Barney, softly crying:
"Look up there! What do you make of that?"
Barney looked upward, as directed, and, high in the air, he saw a bright light that was swiftly settling toward the earth.
"It"s a shooting shtar, begobs!" exclaimed the Irish lad.
"Not much!" broke from Frank. "That is no star. It looks like a light, with a reflector behind it."
"Well, who knows but thot"s th" woay a shtar looks?"
"It is not a star," said Old Solitary; "but what it is I cannot say."
"I know!" cried Frank.
"What is it, then?"
"The _Eagle_."
"What is the _Eagle_?"
"An air ship."
Old Solitary gave a muttered exclamation of incredulity.
"Impossible!"
"It is not impossible," a.s.serted Frank. "It was in the _Eagle_ that we came here from Blake."
"Thot"s roight," agreed Barney.
Then in a few words Frank told the man of their trip from Blake, how Professor Scudmore had gone mad, and how they had captured the ship from the professor, who afterward escaped and got away with the _Eagle_ in the night.