Part 24 (2/2)

But the stars were blotted out suddenly, and I drew Holot to his feet and groped around in the glooation It was iain any inforestures

Hol to us ”We're in a covered passageway,” heon tiptoe As we're in the place we et to the end quicker”

Maru dragged One Eye to his feet, and we pushed on The air of the place was much sweeter than the at covered with thick dust as we had found it in the former place, was one of clean, sripped One Eye's left are, and we had not proceeded more than twenty yards when he intiht We allowed hi course that left us completely nonplussed as to the e had cos First to the right, then to the left, then back again toward the uide him, yet e checked hile in the path, we found that he was right in every instance

”He's counting the nus,”

muttered Holman ”Nothis passage Keep a grip on hiuessed that we had walked for over half a uide stopped abruptly In the dark we endeavoured to find out what had pulled him up short, but we tried in vain A prick froe an inch, and we clustered together and racked our brains to find the solution

”P'raps we're up against so in front, Verslun”

I walked forward a pace and groped in the blackness My fingers touched solid rock It hemmed us in on all sides One Eye had walked us to the end of the passage, and we had coainst a blind wall

I whispered the news to Holhtened on the collar of the prisoner till his breath caasps Kaipi moved around to the side of the prisoner, but I pushed hihly back The Fijian's desire to use his knife on all occasions was so

”What'll we do?” asked Holman

”Get back,” I answered ”He's either fooled us or he's lost his way”

Holhly The youngster's temper was up, and it looked as if we had wasted the hours we had spent in capturing the idiot alive, and the tih the canon and the crooked passage And tiony which Edith and Barbara Herndon were suffering

In his teot that the prisoner was deaf, and he shouted a question at hi?” he screamed ”damn you, will--”

Maru interrupted with a cry of astonishe appeared to slide away, and, standing directly in front of us, his big fraainst a fire of brushwood that blazed behind hi forward, and Leith turned and sped into the gloo himself confronted by the eneotten that he had a revolver in his possession, and Leith had passed the brushwood fire before I yelled out to the youngster to shoot

Holered For a ht that he was down, but he picked hi pine li upon the walls of the place, we sped ure that was barely discernible when the blazing branch flung a splinter of light into the gloo of Leith's feet that ca Maru and Kaipi were hallooing far behind, but Holman and I ran side by side, ourbut the capture of the hu on hi, and I remembered with a thrill of satisfaction the wound that he had received the night before It was only a question of tiers on his throat ”Keep it up!” gasped Holot hilow froli up and down at such a rate that the limbs to which they were attached always remained outside the area that was faintly illuether with the_plop plop_ it made upon the rock, raised an insane idea withina pair of bewitched shoes that were enticing us into the very heart of the s of the two preceding days had left ht-headed

The race was unreal I had an idea that the shoes would run on forever, and that every yard they covered took me farther away from Edith Herndon

The flame of the pine branch went out, and ere left in utter darkness But the sound of the flying feet still came back to us At times ere so near that Holman thrust out his hands as he ran, and cursed softly as the sounds seemed to draay from him

”I'll have you yet!” he cried ”I'll choke you, you devil!”

A chuckle came out of the darkness and at that instant Itime with the clatter of the shoes was a softer tattoo that toldbeside the

Holman made the discovery at the same moment ”Soma,” he breathed, and he ran faster Froues in the rear came the shouts of Maru and Kaipi, but their yells died away, and ere convinced that they had given up the chase

The _plop plop_ of the shoes ceased suddenly, and we slackened speed

Our brains suggested that Leith had stopped abruptly on the chance of doubling back before we could pull up, and a sweat of terror broke out upon us If he doubled successfully he would reach the stone door through which we had got the first glimpse of him