Part 43 (1/2)

Harry and I sprang forward

As we did so the eyes closed and the reptile began toabout on the ground before us with other tentacles similar to the one that had captured Desiree

I cried out to Harry to avoid them He did not answer, but rushed blindly forward

Desiree's agonized shrieks rose to the pitch of ue er of striking Desiree We were barely able to keep pace with the thing as it receded swiftly down the broad passage Desiree had twisted her body half round, and her face was turned toward us, shadowy as a ghost Then her head fell forward and hung loosely and her lips were silent She had fainted

The thing moved swifter than ever; ere barely able to keep up with it Harry , but one of the writhing tentacles swept against hiain on the instant and cae broadened until the walls were no longer visible; we had entered another cavern I heard the sound of running water somewhere ahead of us The pace of the reptile had not slackened for an instant

Harry had again caught up with us, and as he ran at ht his arm and held it

”Desiree!” I panted

Her body covered the only part of the thing that presented a fair mark

Harry swore, but his aret at it here!”

I saw hisand followed at his heels as he swerved suddenly to the right and sprang forward in an atteerness we forgot caution and went too close I felt one of the snaky tentacles wrap itself roundto Harry, but too late He, too, was ensnared, and a round and swung through the air to the side of Desiree She was still unconscious

I writhed and twisted desperately, but that ainst the huge and hideous head

Harry was on the other side of Desiree, not three feet from me I could see his muscles strain and pull in his violent efforts to tear hiiven it up

But suddenly, quite near in to raise itself fro and a little above it I turned asped ”To your right! The spear! Are your arms free?”

Then as I saw he understood, I turned a quarter of the way round--as far as I could get--and raised ht it doith every ounce ofeye beneath me

At the same moment I saw Harry's arm descend and the flash of his spear The point of my own had sunk until the copper head was corasped the shaft and pulled and twisted it about until it finally was jerked forth Fro it had made there issued a black stream

Suddenly the body of the reptile quivered convulsively The head rolled fro of the tentacle roundcrushed into shapelessness; and as suddenly it loosened

Other tentacles lashed and beat on the ground furiously The reptile's swift backward movement halted jerkily I made a desperate effort to tear myself free The tentacle quivered and throbbed violently, and suddenly flew apart like a released spring, and I fell to the ground

In an instant Harry was at my side, and we both leaped forith our spears, slashi+ng at the tentacle which still held Desiree in its grasp

Others writhed on the ground about our feet, but feebly There caround as he opened his ar doith the severed coil still wrapped about it

But there was life in the reptile's iered and swayed froony Its ious circle The poison of its breath ca supre in its very helplessness, and I was shuddering violently as I stooped to help Harry lift Desiree froo far, for ere barely able to carry her We laid her on the hard rock with her head in Harry's lap Her body was li

Forher te the nerve centers at the back of the neck, but without effect

”She is dead,” said Harry with a curious calm