“Explain yourself,” urged Carol.

So while the others listened Gale let Phyllis tell of their morning’s adventure. Phyllis recreated vividly with words the suspense they had felt while fumbling around in the dark of the passages. The other girls were quite beside themselves with excitement when she had finished.

Armed with flashlights and the revolvers they always carried now Tom followed Jim and the special deputy into the cave when Gale and Phyllis had shown them the entrance.

The girls returned to the camp to await the return of the three and their prisoner. They had no doubts that if the bandit was still in the cave, the three men would find him and bring him back to face justice.

“But there might be another exit to the cave that you don’t know about,” Virginia mused to Phyllis and Gale. “Even now he might be miles away.”

“Well,” Phyllis said uncomfortably, remembering the thief’s laughter, “the farther he stays away from me, the better.”

“I hope nothing happens to Tom,” Virginia said with a worried frown for her brother. “If there is any danger, he is bound to rush right into it.”

“Don’t worry,” Gale consoled her, “Tom is old enough to take care of himself. While we are waiting, I’m going to have some target practice so I’ll know how to handle this revolver.”

“A good idea,” Phyllis declared jumping to her feet. “We’ll have a shooting match.”

Virginia tacked a large piece of paper to a tree and paced off twenty-five feet. From her mark Gale tried her luck at hitting their target. When she had finished they discovered that one of her six bullets had just nicked the edge of the paper. The others had gone clear past the tree. Phyllis was not even as lucky. None of her tries was successful.

“You couldn’t hit a barn door if you were inside the barn,” Carol teased.

“You couldn’t do any better!” was Phyllis’ spirited retort. “Give us a chance, we’ll show you.”

The sun fell farther and farther in the west. The girls nervously idled away the time, keeping anxious eyes on the hill opposite where they expected Tom and his companions to reappear. But the minutes flew and the others did not come. The sun dropped from sight, leaving a trail of glorious colors in his wake. From the east, night like a pearly gray blanket covered the sky.

Virginia sliced bacon in the frying pan over the fire. Gale made coffee and soon inviting aromas of their supper drifted on the air.

“The smell of food will bring Tom if nothing else does,” Virginia declared laughingly.

But it grew later. Darkness with its impenetrable shadows closed down. The girls huddled about the campfire, watching the fantastic shadows the flames threw over the tents. They had had their supper and put aside things to be warmed when the others returned.

“Do you suppose they could have gotten lost like we did?” Phyllis asked after a long and heavy silence.

“They had flashlights,” put in Madge. “They shouldn’t have.”

“Ah, but you don’t know that place!” Phyllis shivered, “It gives me the creeps to think of it.”

“What’s that?” Virginia cried suddenly.

They listened attentively. A stick cracked as a heavy foot trod on it. In the fitful firelight’s gleam they could see three shadowy figures crossing the creek.

“Tom?” Virginia called uncertainly.

“All safe,” Tom’s hearty voice assured her.

“But where is the bandit?” Valerie asked excitedly.

“That’s what we’d like to know,” grumbled Tom. “We searched that place all through but there was no one in there.”

“But we did see him,” Phyllis insisted. “He must have escaped before you got there.”

“That’s what we figgered,” Jim put in. “We found footprints of a man, but escaping the law seems to be that fella’s strong point.”

“He won’t escape all the time,” murmured the deputy. “We’ll catch up with him some day.”

The girls, Virginia and Gale, warmed the supper for the three men and before they all turned in for the night, the deputy took his leave, declaring he could not spend the night at their campfire, but had to be miles away by morning.

The girls slept peacefully and dreamlessly, storing up energy for the day’s ride ahead of them, for it was Tom and Jim’s plan to continue on to a new camp site the next day.