Sandy. "He's got us cornered!"

"He's got me cornered, too!" shouted Will.

"Then I guess he's got the high hand," Tommy answered back.

"Say," Thede's voice exclaimed, "the rock at the end of that
passage isn't more than a foot thick and it's full of cracks, at
that. If you had a couple of big whinnicks, you could smash it
down."

"I can find the whinnicks all right!" answered Will.

"Say!" cried Sandy, "you want to hurry with those whinnicks, for
Pierre is almost standing on his head, threatening to shoot if you
try to break through."

Will collected a number of heavy stones which had fallen from the
walls and threw them with all his strength against the partition.

The cracks widened, and slivers of brittle rock fell away. His
efforts were greeted with cheers from the other side, and he
redoubled them, with the result that in a short time, a passage
between the two sections of the underground chambers had been made.

When Will stepped through the opening he saw Pierre's fur cap
sticking up above a barrier which reached almost to the ceiling.
The long barrel of his rifle protruded threateningly into the room.

"I guess," Will proposed, "that we'd better get out of range of