It was a crude arch in the rock and beyond it he could see a steep flight of wooden steps.
His heart was pounding with excitement. There was no doubt now that they had discovered the smugglers’ secret.
“We’ve found it,” he whispered to Joe. “We’ve found the passage. This must be directly underneath the house on the cliff.”
“We’ll have to go quietly.”
The light cast strange shadows through the gloomy passage in the rocks. Water dripped from the walls. Water dripped from their clothing. They tiptoed quietly forward beneath the archway until they reached the flight of steps.
Then, quietly, almost stealthily, they began to ascend.
The place was in a deathlike silence. It was as if they were in a tomb. So quiet was the strange stairway in the cliff that the boys could hardly believe that men had been there but a short while before.
Step by step they ascended the stairs, and at last Frank’s flashlight showed that they were approaching a door. It was set directly in a frame in the wall of rock at which the stairs ended. The passageway curved above them in a rocky ceiling.
They stood on the steps outside the door.
Should they enter?
They did not know what lay beyond. They might be entering the very haunt of the smugglers. In fact, this was most probable. And in that event they would not have a chance of escape.
For a while they remained there, not knowing whether to retreat or go on.
Then Frank stepped forward. He pressed his ear against the door and listened intently.
There was not a sound.
He peered around the sides of the door to see if he could catch a glimpse of light. There was only darkness. At length he decided that there was no one immediately beyond the door and he made up his mind to go ahead.
He whispered his decision to Joe, who nodded.
“I’m with you.”
The door was opened by a latch, and Frank tried it cautiously. At first it was obstinate.
Then, with an abrupt clatter that echoed from wall to wall and seemed to the ears of the boys to create a hideous and deafening uproar, the latch snapped and the door swung open.
They did not immediately cross the threshold. Perhaps their approach had been heard. Perhaps the smugglers lay in wait for them beyond. So they remained there in silence for several minutes, listening for the slightest sound.
However, it became apparent that the dark chamber was empty, so Frank switched on the flashlight.
The vivid beam cut the darkness and revealed a gloomy cave in the very center of the cliff, hewn out of the rock. It had been a natural cave, just as the tunnel in the cliff had been a natural passageway, but the roof had been bolstered up by great beams and the sides had been chipped away while the floor had been leveled. It was a secret chamber in the heart of the rock.
The light revealed the fact that this chamber was used as a storeroom, for there were huge boxes, bales and packages distributed about the floor and piled against the walls.
“Smuggled goods!” exclaimed Frank.
His suspicions seemed verified by the fact that the majority of the boxes bore labels of foreign countries. Chinese characters were scribbled across them in practically every case.
Seeing that the chamber was unoccupied, the boys stepped through the doorway and looked about them. The flashlight illuminated the murky corners of the cave.
“This must be where they store all the stuff,” Joe said, as he inspected one of the boxes.
“There must be another opening that leads to the top of the cliff. They probably bring the stuff up to the house and then dispose of it from there.”
“You’d think they would keep it at the Polucca place instead of down here.”
“Probably they are afraid the house might be raided at some time or another. That’s why they keep the goods hidden in this place. It would be mighty hard for anyone to find it here.”
“But how do they get the stuff out of here? There’s no doorway that I can see.”
The light of the flashlight played upon the walls.
No doorway, no opening of any kind, was revealed.
“That’s strange,” said Frank. “There must be some way out.”
They began to move about the chamber. Across some of the bales of goods had been thrown rich bolts of silk, while valuable tapestries were also lying carelessly on the floor. In one corner were three or four boxes piled on top of one another. Frank accidentally knocked the flashlight against one of these and it gave forth a hollow sound.
“It’s empty,” he said.
An idea struck him that perhaps these boxes had been piled up to conceal some passage leading out of the secret chamber. He mentioned his suspicion to Joe.
“But how could they pile the boxes up there after they went out?” his brother questioned.
“This gang are smart enough for anything. Let’s move these boxes away.”
He seized the topmost box. It was very light and he removed it from the top of the pile without difficulty.
“I thought so!” exclaimed Frank, with satisfaction.
For the light revealed the top of a door which had hitherto been hidden from view.
The boys lost no time in moving the rest of the boxes, and the entire door was soon in sight. Then the boys discovered how it was possible for the boxes to be piled up in such a position in spite of the fact that the smugglers had left the chamber and closed the door behind them.
Attached to the bottom of the door was a small wooden platform that projected out some distance over the floor of the cave and on this platform the boxes had been piled.
“They are kept there all the time, as a blind,” he said. “Whenever anyone leaves the cave and closes the door the boxes swing in with the platform and it looks as though they were piled up on the floor.”
The ingenuity of the contrivance won their reluctant admiration.
“What shall we do?” asked Joe,
