As he proceeded, Mr. Stanlock peered ahead anxiously, in the hope that
he would discover the lights of Lieutenant Larkin and his companions.
But he walked nearly 100 yards through an irregular and
characteristically jagged passage before he caught sight of anything
indicating that there was anybody besides himself in the abandoned
mine. Then suddenly, rounding a sharp point he came upon the advance
party of searchers approaching him.
"What did you find?" the mine owner inquired before any surprise
greetings could be exchanged. "There's another outlet to this place
somewhere, isn't there?"
"Yes, there is," was the reply of the officer in charge. "This gallery
runs on for another hundred yards, piercing Holly Hill right through
the center. You know the bluff and the rocky slope behind the old
mill. Well, it seems that this mine was cut right through at that
point, but there was a cave-in that filled up that opening. These
rascals that kidnapped the girls evidently were associated with the
people that rented the Buchholz place and cut the passage through. The
girls have been here all right, but they're gone. They've been taken
out of this end of the mine and spirited away in some manner.
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