But what had happened? A bullet in Tom Terror’s body? Then the Tiger had enemies besides the young judge.
“We must be in the cave,” said another voice that seemed to come from a white man’s lips. “But there are too many shadows here.”
“A light, boys. Make a fire, an’ while ye’re at work put me down.”
The kindling of the fire was not long delayed, the dry splinters of wood scraped together by the Thugs soon blazed up, and for the first time Myra saw her visitors.
She saw, too, the strong man on the floor, and in all her life the girl had never seen such a pair of wolfish eyes.
“Why, this place is inhabited!” suddenly cried Deadly Dan. “There’s a cot, a stool, and clothes hanging on the wall. By my life, Tom, I believe we’ve invaded the boy’s den.”
“Whar?--thet’s what I want just now. Whar’s a nest?”
Tom Terror uttered a cry of joy, and essayed to crawl forward.
But at that moment a voice rung through the cavern and startled every one.
“Stay where you are, or I’ll let firelight into your skulls. The limbs of a murderer shall never pollute the cot where I sleep.”
In an instant of time, as it were, the fair occupant of the cavern had become known to the Thugs of Cut-throat.
The fire leaping ceilingward revealed her graceful figure, her determined white face, and the deadly weapon in her hands.
Deadly Dan Darrell, with a cry of amazement on his lips, started from the sight, while Tom Terror, having suddenly relinquished his attempted crawl to the bed, gazed at her in silence.
She showed no signs of life, save in the sparkling of her beautiful eyes which drew much of Rosebud Dan’s attention.
“By Jove, she’s a beauty,” he ejaculated. “What a queen she’d make for me when I get my fingers on the pile. The boy and she are carrying on business together; but I’m going to break up that partnership.”
“I’ll make tarms, pard,” said Tom, flashing the glare of his wolfish eyes upon the speaker.
“You speak of terms,” she said. “These are mine. Stand aside and let me pass.”
“They’re easy,” was the answer. “We don’t make war on women, an’ I guess you’ll never set the world afire if we do let you go.”
She could not avoid the handsome, eager eyes of Deadly Dan. She had seen him for the first time; but something proclaimed his identity.