"Will it hold?" queried Dick. "You don't want to try to climb up and fall."
With caution Sam pulled on the lariat. It held, and he went up hand over hand, for he was a fair athlete. Then his brothers followed. They now stood on a ledge of rock, and the top of the hole was still twelve feet above them.
"There is a small tree, Sam," said Tom, looking upward. "If you can lasso that I think we'll be all right."
Once more the youngest Rover started to use the lariat. As it swung upward it missed the tree and swished out of sight over the edge of the hole.
"Ouch!" came the unexpected cry from above. "Oh, my eye!"
"Hullo! you've lashed somebody!" ejaculated Dick.
"I didn't know there was anybody up there," answered Sam, as the noose of the lasso slipped downward.
The three Rover boys looked upward. They heard a hasty movement in the bushes and caught a brief glimpse of a man's face. On the instant the man disappeared, muttering something to himself.
"It was Dangler!" ejaculated Dick.
"Are you sure?" asked both of the others, in a breath.
