Part 32 (1/2)

He understood, and the next ether we pulled ourselves, little by little, toward the opening; for our strength was nearly spent, and the force of the ht The base of the column consisted th and circular in shape

The water rushed in through each of the two openings thus left, and inside of the colu the water from both sides The water I had seen; I had not counted on the whirlpool

We had pulled ourselves round till our bodies rested against the edge of the opening, clinging to either side Inside all was blackness, but we could judge of the fury of the maelstrom by the force of the current outside Stones hurled by the Incas were striking against the sides of the colu hunted froh es on the bank, at the whirling black water, at Harry, at myself

Whichever e looked was death, and none worth choosing

”I can't hold--asped ”What's the use--old --”

He disappeared into the black, furious whirlpool with that word The next instant ers were torn from their hold by a sudden jerk of the water, and I followed

Chapter XIV

A FIshi+NG PARTY

Water, hirling rapidly, has a keen distaste for any foreign object; but when once the surface breaks, that very repulsion seems to multiply the indescribable fury hich it endeavors to bury the object beneath its center

Once in the whirlpool, I was carried in a swift circle round its surface for what seeht or ten seconds in reality Then suddenly I was turned completely over,roar in ainst me from every side

Any effort of any kind orse 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 sing the water

The pressure against uely why life had not departed, since--as I supposed--there was not a whole bone left inwith dizziness and pain; my breast was a furnace of torture

Suddenly the pressure lessened and the whirling radually ceased, but still the current carried me on I struck out wildly with both arrasp the proverbial straw

I found no straw, but soht to reach it with et air, but the swiftness of the current carried ain beneath the surface My arms seemed powerless; I was unable to direct the of most intense suffocation in ht in entle pressure froait of a saddle-horse; and suddenly, without knohy or when or how, I found , not far froain

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 h hed tons

Water ran fro, scarcely abated, pounded inmyself over and over with a most intense earnestness: ”But if I were really dead I shouldn't be able toman, and the last to return, is the sense of hus of the water that had filled theue 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 s

I lay on a narrow ledge of rock at the entrance to a huge cavern Not two feet below rushed the strea in the wall at a sharp angle with tremendous velocity, andsurface

Below, it emptied into a lake which nearly filled the cavern, soh boulders and narrow ledges surrounded it on every side

This I saw in tiht my eye was no work of nature Fastened to the wall on the opposite side of the cavern, casting a diolden, fla urns