 14 A fishing-party. Water, when whirling rapidly, has a keen distaste for any foreign object. But when once the surface breaks, that very repulsion seems to multiply the indescribable fury with which it endeavours to bury the object beneath its center. Once in the whirlpool I was carried in a swift circle round its surface for what seemed an age, and I think could not have been less than eight or ten seconds in reality. Then suddenly I was turned completely over. My limbs seemed to be torn from my body. There was a deafening roar in my ears, and a crushing weight pressed against me from every side. Any effort of any kind was worse than useless, as well as impossible. Indeed, I could hardly have been said to be conscious, except for the fact that I retained sufficient volition to avoid breathing or swallowing the water. The pressure against my body was terrific. I wondered vaguely why life had not departed, since, as I supposed, there was not a whole bone left in my body. My head was bursting with dizziness and pain. My breast was a furnace of torture. Suddenly the pressure lessened, and the whirling movement gradually ceased. But still the current carried me on. I struck out wildly with both arms, in an effort I supposed to grasp the proverbial straw. I found no straw but something better, space. Instinct led the fight to reach it with my head to get air, but the swiftness of the current carried me again beneath the surface. My arms seemed powerless. I was unable to direct them. I hardly know what happened after that. A feeling of most intense suffocation in my chest, a relaxation of all my muscles, a sensation of light in my smarting eyes, a gentle pressure from the water beneath like the rising gate of a saddle-horse. And suddenly, without knowing why or when or how, I found myself lying on a hard ground, gasping, choking, sputtering, not far from death, but nearer to life than I had thought ever to be again. I lay for several minutes unable to move, then my brain awoke and called for life. I twisted over on my face and moved my arms out and in with the motion of a swimmer, the most exquisite pain shot through my chest and abdomen. My head weighed tons. Water ran from my nose and mouth in gurgling streams, the roaring, scarcely abated pounding in my ears. I was telling myself over and over with the most intense earnestness, but if I were really dead I shouldn't be able to move. It appears that the first sense to leave a drowning man and the last to return is the sense of humor. In another ten minutes, having rid my lungs of the water that had filled them, I felt no pain and but little fatigue. My head was dizzy and there was still a feeling of oppression on my chest, but otherwise I was little the worse for wear. I twisted carefully over on my side and took note of my surroundings. I lay on a narrow ledge of rock at the entrance to a huge cavern. Not two feet below rushed the stream which had carried me. It came down through an opening in the wall at a sharp angle with tremendous velocity and must have hurled me like a cork from its foaming surface. Below it emptied into a lake which nearly filled the cavern some hundreds of yards in diameter. Rough boulders and narrow ledges surrounded it on every side. This I saw in time, but the first thing that caught my eye was no work of nature. Fastened to the wall on the opposite side of the cavern, casting a dim, flickering light throughout its vast space were two golden flaming urns. It was not fear but a sort of nausea that assailed me as I realized that I was still in the domain of the Incas. The ledge on which I lay was exposed to view from nearly every point of the cavern and the sight of those urns caused me to make a swift decision to leave it without delay. It was wet and slippery and not over three feet in width. I rose to my feet cautiously, having no appetite for another ducking. At a distance of several feet lay another ledge, broad and level, at the farther end of which rose a massive boulder. I cleared the gap with a leap, barely made my footing, and passed behind the boulder through a crevice, just wide enough to admit my body. Then threw a narrow lane onto another ledge, and from that I found my way into a dark recess, which gave assurance at least of temporary safety. The sides of the cavern were a veritable maze of boulders, sloping ledges, and narrow crevices. Nature here scarcely seemed to have known what to do with herself. I seated myself on a bit of projecting limestone, still wet and shivering. I had no boots nor trousers. My feet were bruised and swollen, and my flannel shirt and woollen underwear were but scanty protection against the chill air, damp as they were. Also I seemed to feel a cold draft circling about me, and was convinced of the fact by the flickering flames in the golden urns. Desolate indeed, for I gave Harry up as lost. The thought generated no particular feeling in me. Death, by force of contrast, may even appear agreeable, and I told myself that Harry had been favored of the gods. And there I sat in the half-darkness, shrinking from a danger of whose existence I was not certain, clinging miserably to the little that was left of what the world of sunshine had known as Paul Lamar, gentleman, scientist, and connoisseur of life, sans philosophy, sans hope, and sans coulotte. But the senses remained, and suddenly I became aware of a movement in the water of the lake. It was as though an immense trout had leaped and split the surface. This was repeated several times, and was followed by a rhythmic sound like the regular splash of many oars. Then silence. I peered intently forth from my corner in the recess, but could see nothing, and finally gave it up. As the minutes passed by, my discomfort increased and stiffness began to take my joints. I realized the necessity of motion, but lacked the will and sat in a sort of dumb, miserable apathy. This I should say for an hour. Then I saw something that roused me. I had before noticed that on the side of the cavern almost directly opposite me, under the flaming urns, there was a ledge some ten or twelve feet broad and easily a hundred in length. It met the surface of the lake at an easy, gradual slope. In the rear, exactly between the two urns, could be seen the dark mouth of a passage, evidently leading directly away from the cavern. Out of this passage there suddenly appeared the forms of two inkas. In the hand of each was what appeared to be a long spear. I had evidently been mistaken in my presumption of their ignorance of weapons. They walked to one end of the long ledge and dragged out into the light an object with a flat surface some six feet square. This they launched on the surface of the lake, then embarked on it, placing their spears by their sides and taking up instead two broad short oars. With these they began to paddle their perilous craft toward the center of the lake with short, careful strokes. About a hundred feet from the shore they ceased paddling and exchanged the oars for their spears, and stood motionless and silent, waiting apparently for nothing. I also remained watching them in dull curiosity. There was little danger of being seen, for aside from the darkness of my corner, which probably would have been no hindrance to them, a projecting ledge partly screened my body from view. The wait was not a long one, and when it ended things happened with so startling a suddenness that I scarcely grasped the details. There was a loud splash in the water like that I had heard before, a swift ripple on the surface of the lake, and simultaneously the two Indians lunged with their spears, which flew to their mark with deadly accuracy. I had not before noticed the thongs, one end of which was fastened to the shaft of the spear and the other about the waist of the savage. There followed a battle royal. Whatever the thing was that had felt the spears, it certainly lost no time in showing its resentment. It thrashed the water into furious waves until I momentarily expected the raft to be swamped. One Inka stood on the farther end of the craft, desperately plying an oar. The other tugged lustily at the spear thongs. I could see a black, twisting form leap from the water directly toward the raft and the oarsman barely drew from under before it fell. It struck the corner of the raft, which tipped perilously. That appeared to have been a final effort, for there the battle ended. The oarsman made quickly for the shore, paddling with remarkable dexterity and swiftness, while the other stood braced, holding firmly to the spear thongs. Another minute, and they had leaped upon the ledge, drawing the raft after them, and by tugging together on the lines, had landed their victim of the deep. It appeared to be a large black fish of a shape I had never before seen. But it claimed little of my attention. My eye was on the two spears which had been drawn from the still-quivering body and which now lay on the ground well away from the water's edge, while the two inkas were dragging their catch toward the mouth of the passage leading from the cavern. I wanted those spears. I did not stop to ask myself what I intended to do with them. If I had, I would probably have been hard put to it for an answer. But I wanted them, and I sat in my dark corner, gazing at them with greedy eyes. The inkas had disappeared in the passage. Finally I rose and began to search for an exit from the recess in which I had hidden myself. At first there appeared to be none, but at length I found a small crevice between two boulders in the rear. Into this I squeezed my body with some difficulty. The rock pressed tightly against me on both sides, and the sharp corners bruised my body, but I wormed my way through for a distance of 15 or 20 feet. Then the crevice opened abruptly, and I found myself on a broad ledge ending apparently in space. I advanced cautiously to its edge, but intervening boulders shut off the light, and I could see no ground below. Throwing prudence to the winds, I let myself over the outermost corner, hung for a moment by my hands, and dropped. My feet touched ground almost instantly. The supposedly perilous fall amounted to something like 12 inches. I turned round, feeling a little foolish, and saw that from where I stood the ledge and part of the lake were in full view. I could see the spear still lying where they had been thrown down. But as I looked the two ink has emerged from the passage. They picked up the spears, walked to the raft, and again launched it and paddled toward the center of the lake. I thought, here is my chance. I must make that ledge before they return, and I started forward so precipitantly that I ran head on into a massive boulder and got badly stunned for my pains. Half-dazed, I went on, groping my way through the semi-darkness. The trail was one to try a llama. I climbed boulders and leaped across chasms, and clung to narrow slippery ledges with my fingernails. Several times I narrowly escaped dumping myself into the lake, and half the time I was in plain view of the ink is on the raft. My hands and feet were bruised and bleeding, and I had bumped into walls and boulders so often that I was surprised when I took a step without getting a blow. I wanted those spears. I found myself finally within a few yards of my destination. A narrow crevice led from where I stood directly to the ledge from which the ink is had embarked. It was now necessary to wait until they returned to the shore, and I drew back into the darkness of a nearby corner and stood motionless. They were still on the raft in the middle of the lake, waiting, spear in hand. I watched them in furious impatience on the border of Mania. Suddenly I saw a dark, crouching form outlined against a boulder not ten feet away from where I stood. The form was human, but in some way unlike the ink as I had seen. I could not see its face, but the alertness suggested by its attitude made me certain that I had been discovered. Vaguely I felt myself surrounded on every side. I seemed to feel eyes gazing unseen from every direction, but I could not force myself to search the darkness. My heart rose to my throat and choked me, and I stood absolutely powerless to make a sound or movement, gazing in a sort of dumb fascination at that silent crouching figure. Suddenly it crouched lower still against the black background of the boulder. Another second, and you'll be at my throat, I thought. But I stood still, unable to move. But the figure did not spring. Instead it suddenly straightened up to almost twice the height of an inka, and I caught a glimpse of a white face and ragged, clinging garments. Harry! I whispered. I wonder yet that it was not a shout. Thank God! came his voice, also in a whisper, and in another moment he had reached my side. A hurried word or two, there was no time for more, and I pointed to the inkas on the raft, saying, We want those spears! I was after them, he grinned. What shall we do? There's no use taking them while the inkas are away, I replied, because they would soon return and find them gone. Surely we can handle two of them. As I spoke there came a sound from the lake, a sudden loud splash followed by a commotion in the water. I looked around the corner of the boulder and saw that the spears again found their mark. Come! I whispered, and began to pick my way toward the ledge. Harry followed close at my heels. It was easier here, and we soon found ourselves close to the shore of the lake, with a smooth stretch of rock between us and the fisherman's landing-place. The urns, whose light was quite sufficient here, were about fifty feet to the right and rear. The inkas had made their kill and were paddling for the shore. As they came near, Harry and I sank back against the boulder, which extended to the boundary of the ledge. Soon the raft was beached and pulled well away from the water, and the fish, I was amazed at its size, followed. They drew forth the spears and laid them on the ground as they had done formally, and laying hold on the immense fish, still floundering ponderously about, began to drag it toward the mouth of the passage. Now, whispered Harry, and as he stood close at my side, I could feel his body draw together for the spring. I laid a hand on his arm. Not yet. Others may be waiting for them in the passage. Wait till they return. In a few minutes they reappeared in the light of the flaming urns. I waited till they had advanced half way to the water's edge, some thirty feet away. Then I whispered to Harry, You for the left, me for the right, and released my hold on his arm, and the next instant we were bounding furiously across the ledge. Taken by surprise, the inkas offered no resistance whatever. The momentum of our assault carried them to the ground. Their heads struck the hard granite with a fearful force, and they lay stunned. Harry, kneeling over them, looked up at me with a question in his eyes. The lake, said I, for it was no time for squeamishness. Our friend the king thought us dead, and we wanted no witnesses that we had returned to life. We laid hold of the unconscious bodies, dragged them to the edge of the lake, and pushed them in. The shock of the cold water brought one of them to life, and he started to swim, and we, well, we did what had to be done. We had our spears. I examined them curiously. The head appeared to be of copper, and the shaft was a long, thin rod of same material. But when I tried it against a stone, and saw its hardness, I found that it was much less soft and consequently more effective than copper would have been. That those underground savages had succeeded in combining metals was incredible, but there was the evidence, and besides, it may have been a trick of nature herself. The point was some six inches long and very sharp. It was set on the shaft in a wedge and bound with thin, tough strips of hide. Altogether a weapon not to be laughed at. We carried the spears, the raft, and the oars behind a large boulder to the left of the ledge with considerable difficulty. The two ladder, not because we expected them to be of any service, but in order not to leave any trace of our presence, for if any searchers came and found nothing, they could know nothing. We expected them to arrive at any moment, and we waited for hours. We had about given up watching from our vantage point behind the boulder when two Incas appeared at the mouth of the passage. But they brought only oil to fill the urns, and after performing this duty departed, without a glance at the lake or any exhibition of surprise at the absence of their fellows. Every now and then there was a commotion in some part of the lake, and we could occasionally see a black glistening body leap into the air and fall again into the water. I'm hungry, Harry announced suddenly. I wonder if we couldn't turn the trick on that raft ourselves. The same thought had occurred to me, but Harry's impulsiveness had made me fearful of expressing it. I hesitated. We've got to do something, he continued. I suggested that it might be best to wait another hour or two. And why? Now is as good a time as any. If we intend to find Desiree in the name of heaven, how can we? I interrupted. You don't mean to say you don't intend to try, he exclaimed. Hell, I don't know. In the first place it's impossible. And where could we take her? And what could we do? In short, what's the use? Why the do should we prolong the thing any further? In the world I refused to struggle because nothing tempted me. In this infernal hole I have fought when there was nothing to fight for. If civilization held no prize worth an effort, why should I exert myself to preserve the life of a rat? Fuh, it's sickening. I wondered why I wanted those spears. Now I know. I have an idea I'm going to be coward enough to use one, or enough of a philosopher. Paul, that isn't like you. On the contrary, it is consistent with my whole life. I have never been overly keen about it. To end it in a hole like this, well, that isn't exactly what I expected. But it is all one after. Understand me, Hal. I don't want to desert you. Haven't I stuck? And I would still if there were the slightest possible chance. Where can we go? What can we do? There was a long silence. Then Harry's voice came calmly. I can stay in the game. You call yourself a philosopher. I won't quarrel about it, but the world would call you a quitter. Whichever it is, it's not for me. I stay in the game. I'm going to find Desiree if I can, and by the Lord someday I'm going to cock my feet up on the fender of the Midlothian and make them open their mouths and call me a liar. A worthy ambition. My own. And, Paul, you can't. You're not a quitter. Personally, yes. If I were here alone, Hal. I picked up one of the spears and passed my palm over at sharp point. I would quit cold, but not, not with you. I can't share your enthusiasm, but I'll go 50-50 on the rest of it, including the fender when we see it. That's the talk, old man. I knew you would. But understand me. I expect nothing. It's all rot. If by any wild chance we should pull out in the end, I'll admit you were right. But I eat under compulsion, and I fight for you. You're the leader unless you ask my advice. And I begin right now, said Harry with a grin. First to get Desiree. What about it? We discussed plans all the way from the impossible to the miraculous and arrived nowhere. One thing only we decided, that before we tried to find our way back to the great cavern and the royal apartments, we would lay in a supply of food and cash it among the boulders and ledges where we then were. For if ever a place were designed for a successful defense by two men against thousands, it was that one. And we had the spears. Still no one had appeared in the cavern and we decided to wait no longer. We carried the raft back to the ledge. It was fairly light being made of hide stretched tightly across stringers of bone, but was exceedingly clumsy. Once Harry fell and the thing nearly toppled over into the lake with him on top of it. But I caught his arm just in time. Another trip for the oars and spears and everything was ready. We launched the raft awkwardly, nearly shipping it beneath, but finally got it afloat with ourselves aboard. We had fastened the loose ends of the spear thongs about our wastes. I think that raft was the craziest thing that ever touched water. It was a most excellent diver, but was in profound ignorance of the first principle of the art of floating. After a quarter of an hour of experimentation, we found that by standing exactly in a certain position, one on each side and paddling with one hand, it was possible to keep fairly level. If either of us shifted his foot a fraction of an inch, the thing ducked like a stone. We finally got out a hundred feet or so and ceased paddling. Then, exchanging our oars for the spears, we waited. The surface of the lake was perfectly still, save for a barely perceptible ripple, caused no doubt by the undercurrent which was fed by the stream at the opposite side. The urns were so far away that the light was very dim, no better than half darkness. The silence was broken by the sound of the rushing stream. Suddenly the raft swayed gently. There was a parting of the water, not a foot away toward the front, and then, well, the ensuing events happened so quickly that their order is uncertain. A black form arose from the water with a leap like lightning and landed squarely on the raft, which proceeded to perform its favorite dive. It would have done so with much less persuasion, for the fish was a monster. It appeared to me at that moment to be twenty feet long. On the instant as the raft capsized, Harry and I lunged with our spears, tumbling forward and landing on each other and on top of the fish. I felt my spear sinking into the soft fish almost without resistance. The raft slipped from under and we found ourselves floundering in the water. I have said the spear thongs were fastened about our wastes. Otherwise, we would have let the fish go, but we could hardly allow him to take us along. That is, we didn't want to allow it, but we soon found that we had nothing to say in the matter. Before we had time to set ourselves to stroke, we were being towed, as though we had been corked, toward the opposite shore. But it was soon over, handicapped as he was by four feet of spears in his body. We felt the pole lessened and twisted ourselves about, and in another minute had caught the water with a steady dog stroke and were holding our own. Soon we made headway, but it was killing work. He weighs a thousand tons, panted Harry, and I nodded. Pulling and puffing side by side, we gradually neared the center of the lake, passed it, and approached the ledge. We were well now exhausted when we finally touched bottom and were able to stand erect. Hauling the fish onto the ledge, we no longer wondered at his strength. He could not have been an ounce under four hundred pounds and was fully seven feet long. One of the spears ran through the gills, the other was in his middle, just below the backbone. We got them out with some difficulty and rolled him up high and dry. We straightened to return for the spears which we had left at the edge of the water. He's got to hide like an elephant, said Harry. What can we skin him with? But I did not answer. I was gazing straight ahead at the mouth of the passage where stood two Incas spear in hand, returning my gaze stolidly. End of Chapter 14, Recording by Roger Maline Chapter 15 of Under the Andes This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Roger Maline Under the Andes by Rex Stout Chapter 15 The Rescue I was quick to act, but the Incas were quicker still. I turned to run for our spears and was halted by a cry of warning from Harry, who had wheeled like a flash at my quick movement. I turned barely in time to see the Incas draw back their powerful arms, then lunge forward the spear shooting from their hands. I leaped aside, something struck my leg. I stooped swiftly and grasped the spear thong before there was time for the Incas to recover and jerk it out of my reach. The other end was fastened about his waist. I had him, and giving an instant for a glance at Harry, saw that he had adopted the same tactic as myself. Seeing that escape was impossible, they dashed straight at us. It wasn't much of a fight. One came at me with his head lowered like a charging bull. I sidestepped easily and floored him with a single blow. He scrambled to his feet, but by that time I had recovered the spear and had it ready for him. I waited until he was quite close, then let him have it full in the chest. The fool literally ran himself through, hurling himself on the sharp point in a brutal frenzy. He lay on his back, quite still, with the spearhead buried in his chest, and the shaft sticking straight up in the air. I turned to Harry, and in spite of myself, smiled at what I saw. He stood with his right arm upraised, holding his spear ready. His left foot was placed well and gracefully forward, and his body bent to one side like the classic javelin thrower. And ten feet in front of him the other Inca had fallen flat on his face on the ground, with arms extended in mute supplication for quarter. What shall I do? asked Harry. Let him have it. Can you? The fact is, no. Look at the poor beggar, scared silly. But we can't let him go. It was really a question. Mercy and murder were alike impossible. We finally compromised by binding his wrists and ankles and trussing him up behind, using a portion of one of the spear thongs for the purpose, and gagging him. Then we carried him behind a large boulder some distance from the edge, and tucked him away in a dark corner. And when we get back, if we ever do, we can turn him loose, said Harry. In that case I wouldn't give much for his chances of a happy existence, I observed. We wasted no time after that, for we wanted no more interruptions. Some fifteen precious minutes we lost trying to withdraw the spear I had buried in the body of the Inca. But the thing had become wedged between two ribs and refused to come out. Finally we gave it up and threw the corpse in the lake. We then removed the oars and spears and raft, which had floated so near to the ledge that we had no difficulty in recovering it, to our hiding place, and last we tackled our fish. It was a task for half a dozen men, but we dared not remain in the ledge to skin him and cut him up. After an hour of exertion and toil that left us completely exhausted, we managed to get him behind a large boulder to the left of the ledge, but it was impossible to carry him to the place we had selected, which could be reached only by passing through a narrow crevice. The only knives we had were the points of the spears, but they served after a fashion, and in another hour we had him skinned and pretty well separated. He was meaty and sweet. We discovered that with the first opportunity, for we were hungry as wolves. Nor did we waste much time bewailing our lack of a fire, for we had lived so long on dried stuff that the opposite extreme was rather pleasant than otherwise. We tore him into strips as neatly as possible, stowing them away beneath a ledge, a spot kept cool by the water but a foot below. That'll be good for a month, said Harry, and there's more where that came from. And now— I understood, and I answered simply, I'm ready. We had but few preparations to make. The solidest parts of the fish, which we had laid aside, we now strapped together with one of the extra spear thongs and slung them on our backs. We secreted the oars and raft and the extra spear as snugly as possible. Then, having filled ourselves with raw fish and a last hearty drink from the lake, we each took a spear and started on a search wilder than any ever undertaken by Amadis of Gaul or Don Quixote himself. Even the bachelor of Salamanca, in his saddest plight, did not present so outrageous an appearance to the eye as we. We wore more clothing than the Incas, which is the most that can be said for us. We were unable to even guess at the direction we should take. But that was settled for us when we found that there were but two exits from the cavern. One led through the boulders and crevices to a passage full of twists and turns and strewn with rocks, almost impassable. The other was that through which the Incas had entered. We chose the ladder. Fifty feet from the cavern we found ourselves in darkness. I stopped short. Harry, this is impossible! We cannot mark our way. But what can we do? Carry one of those urns. Likely they'd spot us before we even got started. Well, let them. No, you're in for the finish. I know that. I want to find Desiree, and we'll find her. After that, if nothing else is left, I'll be with you. But I don't want a thousand of those brutes falling on us in the dark. If they would end it, I wouldn't care. Keep your spear ready. I had given him my promise, so I pushed on at his side. I had no stomach for it. In a fight I can avoid disgracing myself because it is necessary. But why seek it when there is nothing to be gained? Thus I reflected, but I pushed on at Harry's side. As he had said, I was in for the finish. What I feared was to be taken again by the Incas unseen in the darkness. But that fear was soon removed when I found that we could see easily some thirty or forty feet ahead, enough for a warning in case of attack. Our flannel shirts and woollen undergarments hung from us in rags and tatters. Our feet were bare and bruised and swollen. Our faces were covered with a thick matted growth of hair. Placed side by side with the Incas, it is a question which of us would have been judged the most terrifying spectacles by an impartial observer. I don't think either of us realized the extreme foolhardiness of that expedition. The passage was open and unobstructed, and since it appeared to be the only way to their fishing-ground was certain to be well-traveled. The alarm once given there was no possible chance for us. We sought the royal apartments. Those we knew to be on a level some forty or fifty feet below the surface of the Great Cavern, at the foot of the flat of steps which led to the tunnel to the base of the column. I had counted ninety-six of those steps, and allowing an average height of six inches they represented a distance of forty-eight feet. How far the whirlpool and the stream which it fed had carried us downward we did not know, but we estimated it at one hundred feet. That calculation left us still fifty feet below the level of the royal apartments. But we soon found that in this we were mistaken. We had advanced for perhaps a quarter of an hour without incident, when the passage came to an abrupt end. To the right was an irregular, twisting lane that disappeared around a corner almost before it started. To the left a wide and straight passage, sloping gently upward. We took the ladder. We had followed this for about a hundred yards when we saw a light ahead. Caution was useless. The passage was straight and unbroken, and only luck could save us from discovery. We pushed on, and soon stood directly within the light which came from an apartment adjoining the passage. It was not that which we sought, however, and we gave it barely a glance before we turned to the right down a cross passage, finding ourselves again in darkness. Soon another light appeared. We approached. It came from a doorway leading into an apartment some twenty feet square. It was empty, and we entered. There were two flaming urns fastened to the wall above a granite couch. Stone seats were placed here and there about the room. The walls were studded with spots of gold to a height of four or five feet. We stopped short, gazing about us. It looks like, Harry whispered and then exclaimed, It is! See, here is where we took the blocks from this seat. So it was. We were in the room where we had imprisoned the Inca king, and where we ourselves had been imprisoned with Desiree. She said her room was to the right of this, whispered Harry excitedly. What luck! If only! He left the sentence unfinished, but I understood his fear. And with me there was even no doubt. I had little hope of finding Desiree, and was sorry, for Harry's sake, that we had been so far successful. Again we sought the passage. A little farther on it was crossed by another, running at right angles in both directions. But to the right there was nothing but darkness, and we turned to the left, where, some distance ahead, we could see a light evidently proceeding from a doorway similar to the one we had just left. We went rapidly, but our feet made scarcely any sound on the granite floor. Still we were incautious, and it was purely by luck that I glanced ahead and discovered that which made me jerk Harry violently back and flatten myself against the wall. What is it? he whispered. In silence I pointed with my finger to where two incas stood in the passage ahead of us, just without the patch of light from the doorway which they were facing. They made no movement. We were as yet undiscovered. They were about a hundred feet away from where we stood. Then she's here, whispered Harry. They are on guard. I nodded. I had had the same thought. There was no time to lose. At any moment that they should chance to glance in our direction they were certain to see us. I whispered hastily and briefly to Harry. He nodded. The next instant we were advancing slowly and noiselessly hugging the wall. We carried our spears ready, though we did not mean to use them, for a miss would have meant an alarm. If she is alone, I was saying within myself, almost a prayer, when suddenly one of the incas turned, facing us squarely and gave a start of surprise. We leaped forward. Half a dozen bounds and we were upon them before they had had time to realize their danger or move to escape it. With a ferocity taught us by the incas themselves we gripped their throats and bore them to the floor. No time then for the decencies we had work to do and we crushed and pounded their lives out against the stone floor. There had not been a sound. They quivered and lay still, and then looking up at some slight sound in the doorway we saw Desiree. She stood in the doorway, regarding us with an expression of terror that I did not at first understand. Then suddenly I realized that having seen us disappear beneath the surface of the lake after our dive from the column she had thought us dead. Bon Dieu! she exclaimed in a hollow voice of horror. This too. Do you come, messia? For you, I answered. We are flesh and bone, Desiree, though an ill repair. We have come for you. Paul! Harry! Is it really you? Belief crept into her eyes, but nothing more, and she stood gazing at us curiously. Harry had sprung to her side. She did not move as he embraced her. Are you alone? Yes. Good. Here, Harry, quick, help me. Stand aside, Desiree. We carried the bodies of the two Incas within the room and deposited them in a corner. Then I ran and brought the spears, which we had dropped when we attacked the Incas. Desiree stood just within the doorway, seemingly half dazed. Come, I said. There is no time to be lost. Come. Where? She did not move. With us. Isn't that enough? Do you want to stay here? She shuddered violently. You don't know what has happened. I want to die. Where are you going to take me? Desiree, Harry burst out. For heaven's sake, come! Must we carry you? He grasped her arm. Then she moved and appeared to acquiesce. I started ahead. Harry brought up the rear, with an arm around Desiree's shoulders. She started once more to speak, but I wheeled sharply with a command for silence, and she obeyed. We reached the turn in the corridor and passed to the right, moving as swiftly and noiselessly as possible. Ahead of us was the light from the doorway of the room in which we had formally been imprisoned. We had nearly reached it when I saw, some distance down the corridor, moving forms. The light was very dim, but there appeared to be a great many of them. I turned with a swift gesture to Harry and Desiree to follow, and dashed forward to the light and threw the doorway into the room. Discovery was inevitable, I thought, in any event, but it was better to meet them at the door to the room than in the open passage, and we had our spears. But by a rare stroke of luck we had not been seen. As we stood within the room on either side of the doorway, out of the line of view from the corridor, we heard the patter of many footsteps approaching. They neared the doorway, and I glanced at Harry, pointing to his spear significantly. He gave me a nod of understanding. Let them come! We would not again fall into their hands alive. The footsteps sounded just without the doorway. I stood tense and alert, with spear ready, expecting a rush momentarily. Then they passed, passed altogether, and receded down the corridor in the direction whence we had come. I wanted to glance out at their number, but dared not. We stood still till all again was perfectly silent. Then Desiree spoke in a whisper, It is useless. We are lost. That was the king. He is going to my room. In ten seconds he will be there and find me gone. There was only one thing to do, and I wasted no time in discussing it. A swift command to Harry, and we dashed from the doorway and down the corridor to the left, each holding an arm of Desiree. But she needed little of our assistance. The presence of the Inca king seemed to have inspired her with the boundless terror, and she flew rather than ran between us. We reached the bend in the passage, and just beyond it the light, the first one we had seen on our way in. I had our route marked on my memory with complete distinctness. Soon we found ourselves in the wide sloping passage that carried us to the level below, and in another five seconds had reached its end and the beginning of the last stretch. At the turn Harry stumbled and fell flat, dragging Desiree to her knees. I lifted her, and he sprang to his feet unhurt. She was panting heavily. Harry had dropped his spear in the fall, and we wasted a precious minute searching for it in the darkness, finally finding it where it had slid some twenty feet ahead. Again we dashed forward. A light appeared ahead in the distance, dim but unmistakable. The light of the urns and the cavern for which we were headed. Suddenly Desiree faltered and would have fallen but for our supporting arms. Courage! I breathed. We are near the end. She stopped short and sank to the ground. It is useless, she gasped. I hurt my ankle when I fell. I can go no farther. Leave me. Harry and I, with one impulse, stooped over to pick her up, and as we did so she fainted away in our arms. We were then but a few hundred feet from our goal. The light from the urns could be plainly seen gleaming on the broad ledge by the lake. Suddenly the sound of many footsteps came from behind. I turned quickly, but the passage was too dark. I could see nothing. The sound came closer and closer. There seemed to be many of them advancing swiftly. I straightened and raised my spear. Harry grasped my arm. Not yet, he cried. One more try. We can make it. He thrust his spear into my hand and in another instant had thrown Desiree's unconscious body over his shoulder and was staggering forward toward the cavern. I followed while the sound of the footsteps behind grew louder and louder. We neared the end of the passage. We reached it. We were on the ledge. Even with Desiree for a burden, Harry moved so swiftly that I found it difficult to keep up with him. The strength of a God was in him, which was but just since he had his Goddess in his arms. On the ledge near the edge of the water stood two Incas. They turned at our approach and rushed at us. Unlucky for them, for Harry's example had fired my brain and put the strength of a giant in me. To this day I don't know what followed, whether I used my spear or my fists or my head. I only know that I leaped at them in irresistible fury and left them stretched on the ground before they had reached Harry or halted him. We crossed the ledge and made for the boulders to the left. The crevice which led to our hiding place was too narrow for Harry and his burden. I sprang forward and grasped Desiree's shoulders. He held her ankles and we got her through to the ledge beyond. Then I leaped back through the crevice and barely in time. As I looked out a black rushing horrid emerged from the passage and dashed across the ledge toward us. I stood at the entrance to the narrow crevice, spear in hand. They appeared to have no sense of the fact that my position was impregnable, but dashed blindly at me. The crevice in which I stood and which was the only way through to the ledge where Harry had taken Desiree was not more than two feet wide. With unarmed savages for foes one man could have held it against a million. But they came and I met them. I stood within the crevice, some three or four feet from its end, and when one appeared in the opening I let him have the spear. Another rushed in and fell on top of the first. As I say, they appeared to be deprived of the power to reason. In five minutes the mouth of the crevice was completely choked with bodies, some who were merely wounded, struggling and squirming to extricate themselves from the bloody tangle. I heard Harry's voice at my back. How about it? Want some help? Not unless they find some gunpowder, I answered. The idiots eat death as though it were candy. We're safe. They can never break through here. Are they still coming? They can't. They've blocked the way with their smelly black carcasses. How is Desiree? Better. She's awake. I've been bathing her ankle with cold water. She has a bad sprain. How the deuce she ever managed to hobble on it, even two steps, is beyond me. A sprain? Are you sure? I think so. It's badly swollen. Maybe only a twist. A few hours will tell. I heard him return to the ledge back of me. I dared not turn my head. Thinking I heard a sound above, I looked up, but there was nothing to fear in that direction. The boulders which formed the sides of the crevice extended straight up to the roof of the cavern. We appeared, in fact, to be fortified against any attack. With one exception. Hunger. But there would be plenty of time to think of that. For the present we had our fish, which was sufficient for the three of us for a month if we could keep it fresh that long, and the water was at our very feet. The bodies wedged in the mouth of the crevice began to disappear, allowing the light from the urns to filter through. They were removing their dead. I could see the black form swaying and pulling not five feet away. But I stood motionless, saving my spear and my strength for any whom I tried to force an entrance. Soon the crevice was clear, and from where I stood I commanded a view of something like three-quarters of the ledge. It was one mass of black forms, packed tightly together, gazing at our retreat. They looked particularly silly and helpless to me, then, rendered powerless as they were by a little bit of rock. Brute force was all they had, and nature, being the biggest Brute of all, laughed at them. But I soon found that they were not devoid of resource. For perhaps fifteen minutes the scene remained unchanged. Not one ventured to approach the crevice. Then there was a sudden movement and shifting in the mass. It split suddenly in the middle. They pressed off to either side, leaving an open lane between them leading directly toward me. Down this lane suddenly dashed a dozen or more of the savages, with spears aloft in their brawny arms. I was taken by surprise, and barely had time to cut and run for the ledge within. As it was I did not entirely escape. The spears came whistling through the crevice, and one of them lodged in my leg just below the thigh. I jerked it out with an oath and turned to meet the attack. I was now clear of the crevice, standing on the ledge inside, near Harry and Desiree. I called to them to go to one side, out of the range of the spears that might come through. Harry took Desiree in his arms and carried her to safety. As I expected the Incas came rushing through the crevice, that narrow lane where a man could barely push through without squeezing. The first got my spear full on the face, a blow rather than a thrust, for I had once or twice had difficulty in retrieving it when I had buried it deep. As he fell I struck at the one behind. He grasped the spear with his hand, but I jerked it free and brought it down on his head, crushing him to the ground. It was mere butchery. They hadn't a chance in the world to get at me. Another fell and the rest retreated. The crevice was again clear, save for the bodies of the three who had fallen. I turned to where Harry and Desiree were seated on the further edge of the ledge. Her body rested against his. Her head lay on his shoulder. As I looked at them, smiling, her eyes suddenly opened wide and she sprang to her feet and started toward me. Paul, you are hurt! Harry, a bandage! Quick! Your shirt! Anything! I looked down at the gash on my leg which was bleeding somewhat freely. It's nothing, I declared, a mere tear in the skin. But your ankle, I thought it was sprained. She had reached my side and bent over to examine my wound, but I raised her in my arms and held her before me. That, I said, is nothing. Believe me, it isn't even painful. I shall bandage it myself. Harry will take my place here. But your foot! That, too, is nothing, she answered with a half-smile. I merely twisted it. It is nearly well already. See? She placed her weight on the injured foot but could not suppress a faint grimace of pain. Calling to Harry to watch the crevice, I took Desiree in my arms and carried her back to her seat. Now, sit still, I commanded. Soon we'll have dinner. In the meantime, allow me to say that you are the bravest woman in the world and the best sport, and some day we'll drink to that from a bottle. But facts have no respect for sentiment and fine speeches. The last words were taken from my very mouth by a ringing cry from Harry. Paul! By God, they're coming at us from the water! End of Chapter 15. Recording by Roger Moline. Chapter 16 of Under the Andes. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Roger Moline. Under the Andes by Rex Stout. Chapter 16. The Escape. The ledge on which we rested was about forty feet square. Back of us was a confused mass of boulders and chasms, across which I had come when I first encircled the cavern and found Harry. In front was the crevice, guarded by two massive boulders. On the right the ledge met the solid wall of the cavern, and on the left was the lake itself. Whose waters rippled gently at our very feet. At sound of Harry's warning cry I ran to the water's edge and peered round the side of the boulder. He was right, but what I saw was not very alarming. Two rafts had been launched from the enemy's camp. Each raft held three anchors, more would have sunk them. Two were paddling, while the third balanced himself in the center, brandishing a spear aloft. Turning to Desiree, I called to her to move behind a projecting bit of rock. Then, leaving Harry to guard the crevice in case of a double attack, I took three of our four spears, one of which had made the wound in my leg, and stood at the water's edge, awaiting the approach of the rafts. They came slowly, and their appearance was certainly anything but terrifying. Not much of a navy, I called to Harry, and he answered with a laugh. Lucky for us! Look at our coast defense! One of the rafts was considerably ahead of the other, and in another minute it had approached within fifty feet of the ledge. The Inca in the center stood with legs spread apart and his spear poised above his head. I made no movement, thinking that on such precarious footing he would have difficulty to hurl the thing at all. Wherein I underrated his skill, and it nearly cost me dear. Suddenly, with hardly a movement of his body, his arm snapped forward. I ducked to one side instinctively, and heard the spear whistle past my ear with the speed of a bullet, so close that the butt of the shaft struck the side of my head, a glancing blow, and toppled me over. I sprang quickly to my feet, and barely in time, for I saw the Inca stoop over, pick up another spear from the raft, and draw it back above his head. At the same moment the second raft drew up alongside, and as I fell to the ground flat on my face I heard the two spears whistle shrewdly over me. At that game they were my masters. It would have been folly to have tried conclusions with them with their own weapons. As the spears clattered on the ground thirty feet away, I sprang to my feet and ran to the farther side of the ledge, where I had before noticed some loose stones in a corner. With two or three of these in my hands I ran back to the water's edge, meeting two more of the spears that came twisting at me through the air, one of which tore the skin from my left shoulder. A quick glance at the crevice as I passed showed me Harry fighting at its entrance. They were at us there, too. I heard Desiree shout something to me, but didn't catch the words. My first stone found its goal. The two rafts, side by side, not forty feet away, were a fair mark. The stone was nearly the size of a man's head and very heavy. I had all I could do to get the distance. It struck the raft on the right fairly. The thing turned turtle in a flash, precipitating its occupants onto the other raft. The added weight carried that, too, under the surface, and the six anchors were floundering about in the water. I expected to see them turn and swim for the landing opposite, but instead they headed directly toward me. The light from the urns was but faint, and it was not easy to distinguish their black heads against the black water. Still I could see their approach. Two of them held spears in their hands. I saw the copper heads flash on high. I stood at the edge of the lake, wondering at their folly as I waited. They were now scarcely ten feet away. Another few strokes and the foremost stretched out his hand to grasp the slippery ledge. My spear came down crushingly on his head, and he fell back into the water. By that time another had crawled half onto the ledge and another. A blow and a quick thrust and they, too, slipped back beneath the surface, pawing in agony, not to rise again. Just in time I saw that one of the remaining three had lifted himself in the water, not five feet away, with his spear aimed at my breast. But the poor devil had no purchase for his feet, and the thing went wide. The next instant he had received a ten-pound stone full on the face and went down with a gurgle. At that the remaining two, seeming to acquire a glimmering of intelligence, turned and swam hastily away. I let them go. Turning to Harry I saw that the crevice also was clear. He had left his post and started toward me, but I waved him back. All right here, Hal, have they given it up? There was an expression of the most profound disgust on his face. Paul, it's rank butchery. I'm waiting in blood. Will this thing never stop? I looked at him and said merely, yes. No need to ask when. He understood me. He sent me the glance of a man who has become too familiar with death to fear it, and answered, Another hour of this, and I'm ready. I told him to keep an eye on both points of attack, and went across to where Desiree sat crouched on the ground. I hadn't many words. How is your foot? Oh, it is better. Well, but your leg. Never mind that. Could you sleep? Oh, dear, no! We have only raw fish. Can you eat? I'll try, she answered, with a grimace. I went to the edge of the ledge where we had the fish stowed away near the water, and took some of it both to her and Harry. We ate, but with little relish. The stuff did not seem very fresh. I remained on guard at the mouth of the crevice while Harry went to the lake for a drink, having first helped Desiree to the water and back to her seat. Her foot gave her a great deal of pain, but instead of a sprain it appeared that there had been merely a straining of the ligaments. After bathing it in the cold water, she was considerably relieved. I remained on watch at the mouth of the crevice, from where I could also obtain a pretty fair view of the lake, and commanded Harry to rest. He demurred, but I insisted. Within two minutes he was sleeping like a log, completely exhausted. Several hundred of the anchors remained huddled together on the ledge without, but they made no effort to attack us. I had been watching perhaps three hours when they began to melt away into the passage. Soon but a scant dozen or so remained. These squatted along the wall just under the lighted urns, evidently in the capacity of sentinels. Soon I became drowsy, intolerably so. I was scarcely able to stand. I dozed off once or twice on my feet, and, realizing the danger, I called Harry to take my place. Desiree also had been asleep, lying on the raft which Harry and I had concealed along with our fish. At sound of my voice she awoke and sat up. Rubbing her eyes. Then, as I assured her that all was quiet, she fell back again on her rude bed. I have never understood the delay of the anchors at this juncture. Possibly they took time to consult the great Pechakamak and found his advice difficult to understand. At the time I thought they had given up the attack and intended to starve us out, but they were incapable of a decision so sensible. Many hours had passed and we had alternated on four watches. We had plenty of rest and were really quite fit. The gash on my leg had proven a mere trifle. I was a little stiff, but there was no pain. Desiree's foot was almost entirely well. She was able to walk with ease and had insisted on taking a turn at watch, making such a point of it that we had humored her. Something had to happen and, I suppose, it was as well that the Incas should start it. For we had met with a misfortune that made us see the beginning of the end. Our fish was no longer fit to eat and we had been forced to throw the remainder of it in the lake. Then we held a council of war. The words we uttered, standing together at the mouth of the crevice, come to me now as in a dream. If my memory of them were not so vivid, I should doubt their reality. We discussed death with a calmness that spoke eloquently of our experience. Desiree's position may be given in a word. She was ready for the end and invited it. I was but little behind her, but advised waiting for one more watch, a sop to Harry. And there was one other circumstance that we had moved me to delay, the hope for a sight of the Inca King and a Chance Adam. Desiree had refused to tell us her experiences between the time of our dive from the column and our rescue of her, but she had said enough to cause me to guess at its nature. There was a suppressed but ever-present horror in her eyes that made me long to stand once more before the child of the son, then to go, but not alone. Harry advised retreat. I have mentioned that when he and I had started on our search for Desiree, we had found two exits from the cavern, the one which we had taken and another which led through the maze of boulders and chasms back of us to a passage full of twists and turns and choked with massive rocks, almost impassable. Through this he advised making our way to whatever might await us beyond. The question was still undecided when our argument was brought to a halt and the decision was taken away from us. Through the crevice I saw a band of Incas emerge from the passage opposite and advance to the water's edge. At their head was the Inca King. Soon the landing was completely covered with them, probably three hundred or more, and others could be seen in the mouth of the passage. Each one carried a spear, their heads of copper, upraised in a veritable forest, shown dully in the light of the urns on the wall above. Harry and Desiree stood close behind me, looking through at the fantastic sight. I turned to him. This time they mean business. He nodded. But what can they do, except get knocked on the head and I'm sick of it, if we had only left an hour ago? For my part, I retorted, I'm glad we didn't. Desiree, I'm going to put you in my debt if fortune will only show me one last kindness and let me get within reach of him. I pointed to where the Inca King stood in the forefront at the very edge of the lake. She shuddered and grew pale. He is a monster, she said in a voice so low that I scarcely heard. And I thank you, Paul. Harry seemed not to have heard. But what can they do, he repeated. They did not leave us long in doubt. As he spoke there was a sudden sharp movement in the ranks of the Incas. Those in front leaped in the water and others after them, until almost before we had time to realize their purpose, hundreds of the Harry Brutes were swimming with long, powerful strokes, directly toward the ledge on which we stood. Between his teeth each man carried his spear. I left Harry to guard the crevice and ran to repel the attack at the water. Desiree said, I'm going to put you in my debt if fortune Desiree stood just behind me. I called to her to go back, but she did not move. I grasped her by the arm and led her forcibly to a break in the rock at our rear and pointed out a narrow ascending lane in the direction of the other exit. When I returned to the ledge of the water the foremost of the Incas were but a few feet away. But I looked in vain for the one face I wanted to see and could recognize. The King was not among them. A hasty glance across the landing opposite discovered him standing motionless with folded arms. The entire surface of the lake before me was one mass of heads and arms and spears as far as I could see. There were hundreds of them. I saw at once that the thing was hopeless, but I grasped my spear firmly and stood ready. The first two or three reached the ledge. At the same instant I heard Harry call, They're coming through, Paul. It's you alone. I did not turn my head, for I was busy. My spear was whirling about my head like a circle of flame. Black dusky form swam to the ledge and grasped its slippery surface, but they got no farther. The shaft of the spear bent in my hand. I picked up another, barely losing a second. A wild and savage delight surged through me at the sight of those struggling, writhing, slipping forms. I swung the spear in vicious fury. Not one had found footing on the ledge. Something suddenly struck me in the left arm and stuck there. I shook it loose impatiently and it felt as though my arm went with it. I did not care to glance up, even for an instant. They were pressing me closer and closer, but I knew that they had begun to hurl their spears at me from the water and that the game was up. Another struck me on the leg. Soon they were falling thick about me. Calling to Harry to follow, I turned and ran for the opening in the rock to which I had led Desiree. In an instant he had joined me. By that time scores of the Incas had scrambled out of the water onto the ledge and started toward us. And as many more came rushing through the crevice, finding their way no longer contested. Harry carried three spears. I had four. We sprang up a lane and circling the rock to the rear and at its top found Desiree. A projecting bit of rock gave us some protection from the spears that were being hurled at us from below, but they came uncomfortably close. And black forms began to appear in the lane through which we had come. Harry shouted something which I didn't hear and, taking Desiree in his arms, sprang from the rock to another ledge some ten feet below. I followed. At the bottom he stumbled and fell, but I helped him to his feet and then turned barely in time to beat back three or four of the Incas who had tumbled down almost on our very heads. Immediately in front of us was a chasm several feet across. Harry cried to Desiree, Can you make it? And she shook her head, pointing to her injured foot. To me, I shouted desperately, they were coming down from above despite my efforts to hold them back. Then, in answer to a call from Harry, I turned and leaped across the chasm, throwing the spears ahead of me. Harry took Desiree in his arms and swung her far out. I braced myself for the shock and caught her on my feet. I set her down unhurt, and a minute later Harry had joined us and we were scrambling up the face of a boulder nearly perpendicular, while the spears fell thick around us. Desiree lost her footing and fell against Harry, who rolled to the bottom, pawing for a hold. I turned, but he shouted, Go on, I'll make it! Soon he was again at my side, and in another minute we had gained the top of the boulder, quite flat and some 20 feet square. We commanded Desiree to lie flat on the ground to avoid the spears from below, but I had no idea what to do. I looked below and paused for a breath and a survey of the situation. It can be described only with the word Chaotic. The light of the urns were now hidden from us, and we were in comparative darkness, though we could see with a fair amount of clearness. Nothing could be made of the massive boulders, but we knew that somewhere beyond them was the passage from the cavern which we sought. The Incas came leaping across the chasm to the foot of the rock. Several of them scrambled up the steep surface, but with our spears we pushed them back and they tumbled into the heads of their fellows below. But we were too exposed for a stand there, and I shouted to Harry to take Desiree down the other side of the rock, while I stayed behind to hold them off. He left me, and in a moment later I heard his voice crying to me to follow. I did so, sliding down the face of the rock, feet first. Then began a wild and desperate scramble for safety, with the Incas ever at our heels. Without Desiree we would have made our goal with little difficulty, but half of the time we had to carry her. Several times Harry hurled her bodily across a chasm or a crevice while I received her on the other side. Often I covered the retreat, holding the Incas at bay while Harry assisted Desiree up the steep face of a boulder or across a narrow ledge. There was less danger now from their spears, protected as we were by the maze of rocks. But I was already bleeding in a dozen places on my legs and arms and body, and Harry was in no better case. Suddenly I saw ahead of us an opening which I thought I recognized. I pointed it out to Harry. The exit! he cried out, and made for it with Desiree. But they were brought back to a halt by a cliff at their very feet, no less than twenty feet high. I started to join them, but hearing a clatter behind turned just in time to see a score of Incas rush at us from the left through a narrow lane that led to the edge of the cliff. I sprang toward them, calling to Harry for assistance. He was at my side in an instant, and together we held them back. In five minutes the mouth of the lane was choked with their bodies. Some behind attempted to scramble over the pile to get at us, but we made them sick of their job. I saw that Harry could hold it alone then, and calling to him to stand firm till I called I ran to Desiree. I let myself over the edge of the cliff and hung by my hands, then dropped to the ground below. It was even further than I had thought. My legs doubled up under me, and I toppled over, half fainting. I gritted my teeth and struggled to my feet, calling to Desiree. She was already hanging to the edge of the cliff, many feet above me. But there was nothing else for it, and I shouted, All right, come on! She came and knocked me flat on my back. I had tried to catch her, and did succeed in breaking her fall, at no little cost to myself. I was one mass of bruises and wounds. But again I struggled to my feet, and shouted at the top of my voice, Harry, come! He did not come alone. I suppose the instant he left the lane unguarded, the Incas poured in after him. They followed him over the edge of the cliff, tumbling on top of each other in an indistinguishable mass. Some rose to their feet. Their comrades, descending from above, promptly knocked them flat on their backs. Harry and Desiree and I were making for the exit, which was not but a few feet away. As I have said, the thing was choked up till it was almost impassable. We squeezed in between two rocks, with Desiree between us. Harry was in front, and I brought up the rear. Once through that lane, and we might hold our own. In Heaven's name, come on! Harry shouted suddenly, for I had turned and halted, gazing back at the Incas tumbling over the cliff and rushing toward the mouth of the exit. But I did not heed him, for standing on the top of the cliff, waving his arms wildly at those below, I had seen the form of the Inca king. He was less than thirty feet away. With cries from Harry and Desiree ringing in my ears, I braced my feet as firmly as possible on the uneven rock and poised my spear above my head. The Incas saw my purpose and stopped short. The king must also have seen me, but he stood absolutely motionless. I lunged forward. The spear left my hand and flew straight for his breast. But it failed to reach the mark. A shout of triumph was on my lips, but was suddenly cut short when an Inca standing near the king sprang forward and hurled himself in the path of the spear just as its point was ready to take our revenge. The Inca fell to the foot of the cliff with the spear buried deep in his side. The king stood as he had before, without moving. Then there was a wild rush into the mouth of the exit, and I turned to follow Harry and Desiree. With extreme difficulty we scrambled forward over the rocks and around them. Desiree's breath was coming in painful gasps, and we had to support her on either side. The Incas approached closer at our rear. I felt one of them grass me from behind, and in an excess of fury I shook him off and dashed him backward against the rocks. We were able to make little headway, or none. By taking to the exit we appeared to have set our own death trap. Harry went on with Desiree, and I stayed behind in the attempt to check the attack. They came at me from both sides. I was faint and bleeding and barely able to wield my spear, my last one. I gave way by inches, retreating backward step by step, fighting with the very end of my strength. Suddenly Harry's voice came, shouting that they had reached the end of the passage. I turned then and sprang desperately from rock to rock after them, with the Incas crowding close after me. I stumbled and nearly fell, but recovered my footing and staggered on. And suddenly the mass of rocks ended abruptly, and I fell forward unto flat, level ground by the side of Desiree and Harry. Your spear, I gasped. Quick, they are upon us! But they grasped my arms and dragged me away from the passage to one side. I was half fainting from exhaustion and loss of blood and scarcely knew what they did. They laid me on the ground and bent over me. The Incas! I gasped. They are gone! Harry answered. At that I struggled to rise and rested my body on my elbows, gazing at the mouth of the passage. It was so. The Incas were not to be seen. Not one had issued from the passage. It was incomprehensible to us then. Later we understood. And we had not long to wait. Harry and Desiree were bending over me, attempting to stop the flow of blood from a cut on my shoulder. We must have water, said Desiree. Harry straightened up to look about the cavern, which was so dark that we could barely see one another's faces but a few feet away. Suddenly an exclamation of wonder came from his lips. Desiree and I followed the direction of his gaze and saw the huge, black, indistinct form of some animal suddenly detach itself from the wall of the cavern and move slowly toward us through the darkness.