"Oh!" cried Hop, his face lighting up. "Now me know. You takee um tanglefoot, and lis man takee my mousee! He allee samee goatee in um pockee." Instinctively the outlaw put his hand in his pocket, and the first thing his fingers came in contact with was the dead mouse. He uttered a cry and pulled it out. "Hip hi!" yelled Hop, as he ran for the mouth of the cave. But the outlaw was just mad enough to run and catch him before he got to the curtain. "Here," said Hop, "me givee you lis. Allee samee diamond ling inside. Lettee poor Chinee go!" It was one of the oblong, little packages that he handed to the man, and, letting the mouse drop, he took it and walked back to those in the big cave. But he did not notice that a tiny spark was working its way along what seemed to be a string on the package. The fact was that it was one of his patent firecrackers that Hop had given him. Just as he joined the rest at the table the thing exploded with a noise like that of a shotgun. "Ow! Murder!" yelled the outlaw, for his hand was burned by the operation. Then he danced about like a wild man, while the prisoners were forced to laugh, in spite of their situation. Cap Roche was the first to realize what had happened. "Shut up!" he commanded. "He played a joke on you, that's all. Serves you right for fooling with him. That is the greatest Chinaman I ever saw." The victim went for water to cool his burning hand. "Allee light; me go now," called out Hop, who had been, watching from the front of the cave. "Me soonee come back with um money to pay um toll, so be." Out he went, and he had not gone more than a dozen yards when he came upon the scout. "Where's Anna an' Eloise?" Charlie demanded. "Outlaws allee samee gottee," was the reply. "Come 'way petty quicken." He almost pulled him around the bend, and then he found Jim and Arietta there. The three had been watching from the top of the cliff, and when they saw the outlaws take Wild in they did not wait very long there, but came back to the pass. It was their intention to take up a couple of lariats and try and devise a means of getting Wild away from the villains, but when they found that the girls and the Chinaman were not there, while the horses were just as they had left them, they did not know what to make of it. It was while the scout was creeping up to the cave, thinking that the outlaws might have caught those they had left in the pass, that he saw Hop come out. It was surely a morning of surprises, and Charlie was badly puzzled. But when Hop told of the errand he has been sent on he was completely silenced for the time being. When he found the use of his tongue he exclaimed: