Harry thrust the weapon in his belt, and a minute later he and Sergeant
Monk rode off in company to take Ephraim Shine in the name of the Queen.

Meanwhile Dick was not at the bottom of the Piper shaft, as Rogers
concluded in his haste. Joe had not left the boy half a minute when a
second man made his appearance on the other side of the shaft. This was
Downy, in his drover disguise. The detective, whose sole object in
assuming the disguise was to watch Dick, believing that the boy would be
sure to communicate with the real thieves, had witnessed his capture by
Rogers and had followed in the latter's tracks; and now, after being
entertained and instructed by the words that had passed between Rogers
and his captive, he cut Dick down, quickly frayed the end of the rope
between two stones, and cut away Dick's bonds, throwing the rope and gag
into the shaft.

'Now, my lad,' he said sternly, 'after that man. Take me the nearest
track to the quarry you spoke of as quick as you can cut, and don't make
noise enough to wake a cat or I'll hand you over to him when we get
there.'

Dick did as he was bid; and they were in time to overlook Rogers as he
searched amongst the stones, and to overhear some of the language that
announced his failure. At this stage the detective, who had retained his
grip of Dick's wrist, whispered:

'You can go now, but you must take a message from me to Harry Hardy. Go
straight to his house and say, 'Downy says 'Ready.'' Can I trust you?'

Dick nodded.