“I tripped him up and he’s down there in the alley,” replied Raymond in an equally low tone. “I thought I heard the sound of a blow,” said Sidney. “You did; I clouted him over the head with his own revolver, and I’ve got the gun here.” “I wish you hadn’t done that, Ray.” “But what _could_ I have done, Sid?--just turn my money over to him and wait meekly to see if he wanted to kill me?” “Of course not, but you needn’t have taken his gun.” “I wasn’t going to lose so good a chance to get a gun, and I simply _had_ to make him keep quiet till I could get out of the way.” “Well, I’m glad enough to have you safe here, anyway.” “What kind of a place is this?” asked Raymond. “I can’t imagine,” replied his brother. “I thought it might be the roof of a house when I climbed the ladder, but there seems to be a house of some sort up here; I think that is a door.” “Suppose we go and investigate,” suggested Raymond. “We must be pretty careful if we do; there may be people here.” The boys proceeded cautiously toward the dim opening in the wall that rose on their right. The surface over which they walked was smooth, but had the feel, under their feet, of earth. They paused outside the doorway and listened intently, but could hear no sound. “I’m going to strike a match,” said Raymond, “and see what there is inside.” “Don’t make a light out here,” remonstrated Sidney; “that would show us too plainly to any one who might be looking this way. I think it would be safer to step inside the door. I don’t believe there is any one here or we should have heard some sound.” Raymond stepped carefully inside the door and struck a match, holding it up till the flame burned steadily. When the light shone clear it revealed a good-sized room that was perfectly bare. The walls were of rough stone, similar to the walls of the jail, and the floor was of earth packed hard and smooth. There was no indication that the room had been occupied, and it certainly was empty enough then. The match died down and Raymond turned back to the doorway where Sidney waited. The mystery of their surroundings made both of them thoughtful,--the strange, narrow alley that climbed the steep hill, shut in on both sides by walls or buildings, they did not know which; then the house in whose door they were standing, that was reached, so far as they knew, only by a ladder, and that was so providentially unoccupied; the silence that covered the place, too, though to be sure it was probably after midnight, an hour when a town should be silent, if ever. All the conditions were weird and mysterious.