gloom; and at that instant two dark lanterns were turned, and their light
streamed full upon the astounded forms of Tomlinson and his gaunt
comrade! In the dark shade of the background four or five forms were
also indistinctly visible; and the ray of the lanterns glimmered on the
blades of cutlasses and the barrels of weapons still less easily
resisted.

Tomlinson was the first to recover his self-possession. The light just
gleamed upon the first step of the stairs leading to the stables, leaving
the rest in shadow. He made one stride to the place beside the cart,
where, we have said, lay some of the robbers' weapons; he had been
anticipated,--the weapons were gone. The next moment Tomlinson had
sprung up the steps.

"Lovett! Lovett! Lovett!" shouted he.

The captain, who had followed his comrades into the cavern, was already
in the grasp of two men. From few ordinary mortals, however, could any
two be selected as fearful odds against such a man as Clifford,--a man in
whom a much larger share of sinews and muscle than is usually the lot
even of the strong had been hardened, by perpetual exercise, into a
consistency and iron firmness which linked power and activity into a
union scarcely less remarkable than that immortalized in the glorious
beauty of the sculptured gladiator. His right hand is upon the throat of
one assailant; his left locks, as in a vice, the wrist of the other; you
have scarcely time to breathe! The former is on the ground, the pistol
of the latter is wrenched from his grip, Clifford is on the step; a ball
--another--whizzes by him; he is by the side of the faithful Augustus!

"Open the secret door!" whispered Clifford to his friend; "I will draw up