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Rh steps further. Then, between some dense bushes, he saw a slit in some high rocks. The slit was irregular in shape but not over a foot wide in any one place.

"What do you see?" asked Tom, who, growing impatient, had followed his big brother.

"He seems to have disappeared, Tom," was the low reply.

"Did he go in there?"

"That is just what I was wondering."

Dick looked into the slit. It was of uncertain depth and looked dark and uninviting. Then the whole crowd searched the neighborhood. Not a trace of the stranger was discernable anywhere.

"Well, he didn't fly up in the air," said Sam. "He must have gone somewhere. Why not look into that opening, Dick?"

"You look out that you don't get shot!" warned Tom. "That fellow, if he is one of the old freight thieves and the rascal who robbed Mrs. Stanhope of the valise with the fortune, must be a desperate character."

"If I go in, it will be pistol first," answered Dick, grimly.

He drew the weapon Captain Wells had loaned him, and slowly but cautiously wormed his way between the rocks. It was so dark he had to feel his way along, and, fearing that he might fall into