He attacked the hole in the earth again, and for a while he shoveled industriously, but it soon became apparent that they had found all of the gold that had been buried in that place.
“I guess we got it all,” he said, flinging the shovel to one side. “All the outlaws will find here will be a hole in the ground—a big one.”
“I’d like to be listening in when they come to look for their treasure. They’ll be as mad as hornets.”
Joe picked up his two sacks of gold.
“Better let me carry one of yours,” he suggested. “You have the flashlight to carry. It’ll be awkward for you.”
“I’d forgotten about the light,” Frank agreed. “All right.”
He passed over one of the sacks he had been carrying, and then bent down to pick up the flashlight that had been resting on the ground.
“And now,” he said, “we’ll leave the blue room. It isn’t as blue as Black Pepper and his gang will be when they come to visit the place.”
The boys looked at the hole in the ground and chuckled. They were just about to turn, ready to leave, when they heard a sound from the passage leading into the chamber.
This time they knew it was no trick of the imagination. They could sense plainly that someone was standing there. Someone had crept up through the tunnel, unheard, and was even then standing silently in the darkness.
Frank flung the flashlight about. Its circle of radiance illuminated the dark entrance to the chamber clearly. There, in the very center of the opening, stood a tall, swarthy man with villainous features. He had a heavy black beard and his dark eyebrows were knitted with wrath. And, leveled directly at the two boys, he held in each hand a wicked-looking black revolver.
“Hands up!” he rasped curtly, in a voice that vibrated with anger.
The Hardy boys knew without question that this man was none other than the notorious outlaw they had tried to circumvent—Black Pepper!
XXIII
The Capture
The Hardy boys were stunned by surprise. With victory in their grasp they had turned to confront this menacing figure that seemed to have risen like a ghost from the darkness. Black Pepper had captured them red-handed.
“Drop that gold!” growled the outlaw. “Drop that gold and put up your hands!”
They faced one another tensely. Suddenly Frank pointed to the tunnel directly behind Black Pepper.
“Grab him!” he shouted.
Almost instinctively, the outlaw wheeled about to face the enemy whom he judged was behind him. Before he realized the trick that had been played on him and while his revolvers were turned away from the two lads, the Hardy boys sprang into action.
Joe flung one of the sacks of gold with all his force. It struck against the outlaw’s arm and knocked one of the weapons clattering to the floor. At the same instant Frank flung the sack that he was carrying, and it struck Black Pepper in the chest.
The outlaw reeled backward. The Hardy boys leaped toward him.
Frank was on him before he could raise his remaining weapon. Like a flash, he seized Black Pepper’s arm, holding the revolver away from him. Then Joe joined the struggle and between the two of them they bore the outlaw to the ground by the sheer violence of their attack.
Grimly, Black Pepper struggled. The flashlight had gone out, and the battle raged in complete darkness. It was difficult to tell friend from foe. The outlaw was strong and powerful and he wrestled desperately to get free.
Frank clung grimly to the outlaw’s arm, exerting all his strength to prevent Black Pepper from getting control of the revolver. The weapon exploded in the darkness, the shot sounding like a crash of thunder in that confined space.
Frank got his hands on the revolver and wrested sharply at it. Black Pepper’s grasp relaxed. The revolver gave way and Frank wrenched it away from the outlaw. Quickly he reversed it and pressed the barrel against Black Pepper’s body.
“Put up your hands!” he snapped. “I have you covered.”
Black Pepper ceased his struggles and lay still.
“I give in,” he said quickly. “I give in. Don’t shoot.”
“Get the flashlight, Joe.”
Joe relinquished his grasp on the outlaw and searched for the flashlight, which had rolled to a distant corner of the cave. He found it at last and switched it on. The light revealed Black Pepper lying on his back, his hands upraised. His eyes were wide with fear.
“Get up!” ordered Frank.
The outlaw scrambled to his feet, arms still high.
“Get the other gun, Joe.”
Joe found the other revolver on the floor and picked it up.
“Fine! Now we’ll take you back with us.”
“Let me go, boys,” pleaded the desperado. “It was only a joke. I was only tryin’ to scare you. Take the gold, if you want, but let me go.”
“You have a funny idea of a joke. Well, just as a joke, we’ll take you down to Lucky Bottom and clap you into jail. That’s the kind of a sense of humor we have. Pick up the gold, Joe, and go ahead of him. I’ll come behind.”
Armed with the flashlight and two sacks of gold, Joe went to the entrance of the blue room. Frank picked up the other two sacks and, still keeping Black Pepper covered with a revolver, urged him ahead.
“Forward, march!” he ordered.
Reluctantly, the outlaw strode ahead, following Joe, who was silhouetted against the circle of light cast by the flash.
“My men will see that you pay up for this!” he growled savagely.
“Your men will be scattered so far you’ll never be able to find them when they hear you’ve been taken in,” replied Frank. “If they don’t, they’ll land in jail with you. How did you happen to be down in the mine without them? Trying to make away with the gold in the storm?”
The shot told. Black Pepper looked around sharply.
“I wasn’t trying to double-cross them!”
