Part 53 (1/2)

With a desperate effort he got to his knees and grasped rip loose He was half-way to his feet, and farmyself loose, I fell back a step; then, as he twisted round to get at ed forward and let him have my fist squarely between the eyes

The blow nearly broke my hand, but he dropped to the floor The next instant I was joined by Harry, who had overcome the other Inca with little difficulty, and in a trice we had the with the rey in withholding our attack until the Incas had got ithin the room and to one side, we had not been seen by those constantly passing up and down in the corridor without; at least, none of them had entered We see as we remained in the rooainst the wall, for the soft patter of footsteps could still be heard in the corridor

They now caular intervals, and there were not many of them

Otherwise the silence was unbroken

”What does it allho the women, it is little wonder if they spend most of their time away from them He is welcome to his repose in the bosom of his fa before it ended the sound of footsteps had entirely ceased; but we thought it best to take no chances, and waited for the last minute our impatience would allow us

Then, unco period of immobility and silence, we rose to our feet andsome of the strips of dried fishsuspended froer lay in any direction other than that of hunger, and we set out with only our spears

The corridor was deserted One quick glance in either direction assured us of that; then we turned to the right and set out at a rapid pace, down the long passage past a succession of rooms exactly similar to the one we had just left--scores, hundreds of them

Each one was occupied by fro on the couch which each contained, or stretched on hides on the floor No one was stirring Everywhere was silence save the patter of our own feet, which we let fall as noiselessly as possible

”Will it never end?” whispered Harry at length, after we had traversed upward of a e or a termination

”Forward, and silence!” I breathed for a reply

The end--at least, of the silence--came sooner than we had expected

Hardly were the last words out of lanced over our shoulders as we ran, and at the same instant an Inca spear flew by not two inches froround in front

Not a hundred feet to the reara group of Incas rushi+ng along the passage toward us Harry wheeled about, raising his spear, but I grasped hi, ”Run; it's our only chance!” The next e

It would have fared ill with any who appeared to block our way in that ht ahead, with never a turn We were running as we had never run before; the black walls flashed past us an indistinguishable blur, and the open doorere blended into one

Glancing back over er small Away to the rear the corridor was filled with rushi+ng black for on thereat as e had first started to run

”How about it?” I panted ”Can you hold out?”

”If it weren't for this knee,” Harry returned between breaths and through clenched teeth ”But--I' painfully, and I slackened edto the front His knee ony; his face hite as death

Then I uttered a cry of joy as I saw a bend in the passage ahead We reached it, and wheeled to the right There was solid wall on either side; the series of doors was ended

”We'll shake 'em off now,” I panted

Harry nodded

A short distance ahead we cae, and turned to the left Glancing over my shoulder, I saw that our pursuers had not yet reached the first turn Harry kept in the lead, and was giving me all I could do to keep up with him

We found ourselves now in a veritable es, and we turned to one side or the other at every opportunity At length I grasped Harry by the ar intently There was absolutely no sound of any kind

”Thank Heaven!” Harry breathed, and would have fallen to the ground if I had not supported hi slowly and cautiously