56131    Over the edge there peeped a cleancut, boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder high and waist high, until one knee rested upon the edge.

56132    In another instant he stood at the side of the hole, and was hauling after him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face and a shock of very red hair.

56133    'It's all clear,' he whispered.

56134    'Have you the chisel, and the bags.

56135    Great Scott!

56136    Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!'

56137    Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the collar.

56138    The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts.

56139    The light flashed upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes's hunting-crop came down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone floor.

56140    'It's no use, John Clay,' said Holmes blandly. 'You have no chance at all.'

56141    'So I see,' the other answered with the utmost coolness.

56142    'I fancy that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his coat-tails.'

56143    'There are three men waiting for him at the door,' said Holmes.

56144    'Oh, indeed.

56145    You seem to have done the thing very completely.