There were men facing him who would not have hesitated to fly at his throat in many circumstances. So far the element of surprise had served him well. He dominated them for the time, but he knew that it needed only the slightest initiative on the part of one of them, and he would have the whole mob about his ears. There was a perceptible hesitation in complying with his last order. His trigger finger twitched. Reluctant though he was to shoot he was resolved to do so rather than run the risk of a combined attack. "I'm going to count three," he said. "If those pistols aren't on the floor by then I shoot. One--two----" A weapon clattered to the ground and a second followed. "Any more?" he asked. A third pistol followed the others and, although he was convinced of the probability that there were still more weapons on some of the men, there was no way of making sure. He had to take a chance. "I'm going to take you people back to 'Mope's Bottom,'" he said. "You will keep well in front of me and if anyone looks back he will be turned into something deader than a pillar of salt. Now march." "What about Jim?" asked one of the prisoners, indicating the motionless form of the man who had been shot. Labar reflected. For all he knew time might be precious. If Tom or Larry or Billy returned, as they might at any moment, he could hope for nothing better than a fight to the death. He shook his head. "I'll see that he's looked after later," he said. "Come. Get a move on." He marshalled them into the dark tunnel, and with a stern order that they were not to pass beyond the rays of his torch carried them to the interior steel door. There they came to a halt. Two of the men fiddled with the catch meeting with some apparent difficulty. "It won't open," one of them declared. "Only Larry and Tom know the secret." Here was a predicament. It flashed across Labar's mind that these men were scarcely likely to have submitted to be shut in the tunnel during the absence of those who held the key to their release and at the risk of accident unless they themselves knew the secret. He switched his light off and fired at the floor of the tunnel. "That will be unlucky for you," he declared ominously. "If that door isn't opened in a matter of seconds I'll shoot my way through it--and you." Adèle Gertstein who had never ceased her subdued wailing now gave a sharp cry of terror. And then the door creaked back. There was no further attempt to evade the instructions of Labar. He had convinced them, for the time, that he would stand at nothing, and in that confined space even a bad shot could not fail to wreck deadly execution. Yet until he had reached the open he felt far from secure. There was a thrill down his spine, and once or twice he felt tempted to look round. He had an uneasy feeling that he was being stalked from behind. It would be the simplest thing in the world to follow along that narrow passage and shoot him in the back.