oment!"

He motioned toward the stairs, and she ran toward them, hearing the roar
that came from the outlaws as they made the rush for the cabin.

"Come!" she panted, looking over her shoulder, and seeing Frank with a
revolver in either hand. "Don't stay there! They will kill you!"

"Up!" he shouted again. "I will follow!"

She sprang up the stairs, which creaked and swayed beneath her.

There was a great shock, and the cabin seemed to totter on the brink of
the chasm. Then the door fell, and the ruffians swarmed into the cabin.

Frank Merriwell was right behind the girl, and he seemed to lift her and
fling her into the loft.

"There they go!" rang the voice of the real Black Harry. "Up the
stairs!"

"This is no time for talk!" cried Frank, as he crouched at the head of
the flight, his teeth set, and the light of desperation in his eyes.

The braves came rushing up the stairs, and the boy above thrust out both
hands, each of which held a revolver.

Frank fired four shots, and the smoke shut out the faces of the fierce
rascals on the stairs. He heard cries of pain and the sound of falling
bodies.

"I didn't waste my bullets," came grimly from his lips.

But what could he do now? He had repulsed them for the time, but they
were in the cabin, and it would not be for long that he could keep them
back. They would soon find a way to reach him.

He leaped to the swinging window and flung it open, thrusting the
revolvers lightly into the side pockets of the coat he wore. He looked
down into the depths of the chasm, through which ran the stream of
water.

"It is a long distance down there," came hoarsely from the lad's lips.
"I will try it! It is our last hope."

With a bound, he caught up the coil of rope, then he rushed to the
window and flung it out. As one end was made fast to a rafter, it hung
dangling from the window.

Frank looked out, and he saw that the rope reached to the stream of
water.

At the same time, he heard Black Harry calling on his braves to follow
him up the stairs.

"Come!" said Frank, hurrying to the side of the girl, and grasping her
arm. "There is one chance in a thousand that we may do the trick and
escape alive. We'll make a try for that chance."

She did not question him, she did not hold back, but she bravely trusted
everything to his judgment.

Frank passed through the window in advance. He twisted the rope around
one leg, and he secured a good hold on it with his hands. T