"I think you are right!" Marc exclaimed enthusiastically. "Maybe we'll stop Herrigg yet!" Then the excitement suddenly died from his voice. "But if we traveled in a circle," he said, "we should be at Herrigg's place now. There's nothing near here but the beach house." "But we were closer to the ocean than this," Toffee argued. "We were right next to it." "The beach?" "I don't think so," Toffee reflected. "We went downward, but not on a wooden stairway. It must have been on the other side of the cliff." "But we couldn't have gone down there. It's a sheer drop." "But we did," Toffee insisted. "We were inside or under that cliff. I'm dead sure of it. At least we can't lose anything by looking." "Nothing but our lives," Marc commented dryly. "And as things stand, that's next to nothing." He crossed to Harold, who was currently drowsing, and grasped him by the shoulder. "Come on," he said. "Let's go." Harold opened one doggy eye and gazed up hopefully. "We going to get some grog?" he asked foggily. * * * * * Marc stopped and looked back over his shoulder. From where the three of them were standing in the sloping tunnel, he could not see the entrance, but the faint, luminous glow of reflected moonlight marked its probable location. Also, it gave the passage an eerie, under-water appearance. "We've come quite a distance," he whispered. "We must be almost level with the ocean by now. I wondered how Herrigg ever found this place. It looked like an ordinary wash-out from the highway." Toffee tugged at his sleeve. "He probably built it that way himself," she hissed. "Let's keep going." "Reminds me of a downstairs saloon in Omaha," Harold put in with a misguided attempt at sociability. "You go down this little passage, and...." There was a sudden, soft slapping sound, and Harold became strangely mute. "We'll hear about your disreputable meanderings some other time," Toffee said menacingly. And, for a time, they traveled on in silence. Then, as they rounded a bend in the tunnel, Toffee, who had self-appointedly taken the lead, suddenly darted back, and forced Marc and Harold back against the rough, rocky wall. "Take it easy," Harold complained. "You trying to split my head open?" "I couldn't stand the fumes," Toffee retorted. "I think he saw me." "Who?" hissed Marc. "Who saw you?" "There's an open space down there," Toffee whispered. "And there's a guard standing in it. I saw him silhouetted against the ocean. He may have been looking right at me." Suddenly the little party froze as a voice echoed through the tunnel. "Geez, Mac!" it said. "Did you see that, up in the passage, just now?" "Nope," came the voice of Mac. "Didn't see a thing." "I did," the voice went on wonderingly. "I could have sworn I saw a beautiful redheaded angel. She was walking straight for me, just as pretty as you please. She looked kinda half-naked."