hardly think he has heard me, so I'llkeep right on."
He set out again, keeping his horse at a walk.
Suddenly the hoofbeats ahead ceased.
Wild let the horse walk right on, for the sounds that came fromSpitfire's hoofs could hardly be heard, the ground being very soft justthere.
But when about a hundred feet had been covered Wild brought his horse toa halt and dismounted.
Throwing the bridle rein over the animals head, he hurried forward onfoot.
He rounded a turn in the pass just in time to distinguish the outlinesof a horse, and rider making straight for the almost perpendicular wallat the left of the pass.
Then, all of a sudden, both man and horse disappeared!
"By jove!" exclaimed our hero, under his breath. "I reckon Cap Roche hasmade a stop before going over to Silver Bend. Now it is for me to findout where he has stopped. I didn't think I would have as much luck asthis. Whew! I reckon it won't take us long to settle accounts with theoutlaws of Forbidden Pass."
Stepping forward noiselessly, he was soon at the very spot where he hadlast seen the horse and rider.
There was nothing there now and only the bleak walls of stone werebefore him.
It was very dark in the pass too, but he could see the stars twinklingoverhead, and he was thus enabled to distinguish objects.
Wild went straight to the face of the cliff.
He put out his hand.
It was not rock that he touched, but a piece of canvas or similarmaterial.
This was nothing new to the dashing young deadshot, for he had been upagainst all kinds of devices, and, he simply gave a low chuckle ofsatisfaction.
"I'm mighty glad I followed you, Mr. Cap Roche," he thought. "Now, Ireckon it will be easy to settle the business. I'll just mark this spot,and then ride back to the camp."
It was an easy thing to mark the spot, for he did it by rolling threestones together, which he had no trouble in finding with his feet.
He took care that they were not directly in front of the hidden opening,so they could not be knocked aside by horses, should they come out.
But Wild knew just where he put them, anyhow, and then he went back tothe waiting sorrel, and, mounting, rode off at a walk.
Not until he was a hundred yards from where he had mounted his horse didhe set out at a gallop, and then he was not long in reaching the end ofthe pass.
Wild rode to the little camp and dismounted, surprising his waitingfriends for getting back so soon.
"I reckon yer couldn't catch up to ther galoot, eh, Wild?" remarkedCheyenne Charlie.
"Oh, I caught up with him, all right," was the reply. "Things workedjust the way I wanted them to."
"Is that so? Good enough!"
"Yes. I caught up to Cap Roche, and I was just in time to see himdisappear."
"Disappear?" echoed Arietta. "Then he fooled you, after all?"
"Oh, no. He didn't fool me, Et, for I found where he went."
"Git out!" exclaimed the scout, jubilantly.
"Yes, I was right there in the proper time. But I'll tell you all aboutit."
This the young deadshot did, and when he had done the faces of hispartners and the girls wore smiles of delight and satisfaction.
Even the girls were always anxious to see him make a success of huntingdown outlaws and bad men, no matter how much the danger was in doing it.
They had become so used to it that they thought that Wild and hispartners were simply following the natural law in doing such things.
"I am glad you did not go into the place, Wild," Arietta said. "If youhad done so you might have been caught, and then we would not have knownwhere to look for you."
"That is just why I didn't take the risk of doing it, Et," was the reply."To-morrow will be time enough to get inside the cave, or whatever itmay be. But you can bet that both Charlie and Jim will know just whereit is before I make the attempt."
Our friends usually retired quite early nights, and as they were prettywell tired out from an all-day ride, they decided to get the sleep theyneeded.
Hop had not returned yet, but Wild thought he would allow him to stayout, since there was nothing to do in the morning.
He felt that the Chinaman would not get in any trouble at the saloon,since the miners all seemed to like him.
It was after midnight when Hop returned to the camp, and when he came hesneaked in quietly.
But Cheyenne Charlie was awake, and he let him know that he heard him.
"You yaller galoot, you've been fillin' up with tanglefoot ag'in!" heexclaimed in a whisper. "Don't think I don't know."
"Allee light, Misler Charlie," was the Chinaman's reply; "me feel alleesamee velly goodee. Whattee you care?"
The scout let it go at this, and soon the camp was wrapped in silence.
Early the next morning they were up and stirring, however.
Hop was still sound asleep, however, and when his brother tried toarouse him it did no good.
It was not until our friends had eaten their breakfast that it occurredto them that it was time for Hop to get up.
Charlie undertook the task of rousing him.
He threw a pail of water on him, and, as might be supposed, it had thedesired effect.
"Lat allee light, Misler Charlie," said the Celestial, as he made forthe brook, after crawling out of the tent; "me allee samee git teesquare, so be!"
"You're square now, if I know anything about it," was the retort. "Youdon't count ther tricks you're played on me, I s'pose? Now, you'd betterlook out what yer do ter me, 'cause I won't stand it, if yer rubsomethin' good an' hard on me."
"Allee light, Misler Charlie," was all Hop said just then.
The breakfast being over, Young Wild West decided to take a ride throughthe pass, and thus keep his promise.
"Come, boys," said he, "I reckon we'll start out now. We'll go right onthrough, unless it happens that we are stopped by the outlaws. When wecome back I'll show you the place where Cap Roche disappeared lastnight."
"I would like to go along, Wild," spoke up Arietta, "Why can't we allgo?"
"Well, it might make it a little bad in case the villains took a notionto hold us up," was the reply. "But if you want to go real bad I supposeyou may."
"We do want to go real bad, don't we, girls?" said Arietta, as sheturned to Anna and Eloise.
"Of course, we do!" was the quick reply.
"All right, then. Hop and Wing will stay in charge of the camp. Getyourselves ready, and be sure that you take your rifles with you. If weare attacked by a masked gang about half way through the pass I won't bemuch surprised."
The horses were soon saddled, and then, after giving the two Chinameninstructions to keep a watch on the camp, and not to get into mischief,Wild led the way for Forbidden Pass.
"We are going through, and we won't pay any toll, either!" he said.
"If there is any toll to pay, I'll pay it!" exclaimed Arietta, as shetouched the butt of her revolver.
CHAPTER VIII.
CAPTURED IN THE PASS.
As our friends neared the commencement of Forbidden Pass they saw that acrowd of the miners of the camp were watching them.
A man, whom they easily recognized as Sedgwick, waved his hand to them,and they answered it.
"I suppose he thinks that something will surely happen to us, if theoutlaws are still hanging around here," our hero observed. "Well, he maybe right; we can't tell."
"I want to read that sign, Wild," spoke up Arietta, as she brought herhorse to a halt. "Well, it was not painted by an ignorant man, anyhow.It is about the first sign, with so many letters to it, that I have seenspelled correctly--in a little camp, like this, anyhow."
"Oh, I reckon Cap Roche made the sign, all right, Et," replied our hero."He seems to be a pretty smart man. The lettering is good, I must say.And there is even a painted background--something I did not notice lastnight, boys. A pale-blue background, with white letters. Well, that isall right!"
"We have got to pay
toll, I suppose, Arietta," said Jim, with a twinklein his eye.
"I said a minute or two ago that I would pay it, if any was demanded,"she retorted. "Just leave that part to me."
No one knew exactly what she meant, and it is hardly likely that she didherself. But there was one thing evident, and that was that she did notmean that any money was to be handed over to the outlaws, should it bedemanded.
They did not remain at a halt long, but proceeded on their way, theirhorses at a gentle canter.
"Just keep your eyes on the watch for three stones lying closetogether," said Wild, as they got nearly a mile through the pass. "Theyare stones a little larger than a goose egg, I should