The evening world. Newspaper, February 2, 1916, Page 15

4 } often to let t 4) shots, By E (Copyright, the Fratie A, Munsey Co.) ho, ret Ly Mare and searches for hii Ho iy seized by that tives one of the poles of Ct condemned by Imes, their “goddess,” to u the He incites bis fellow to revolt, and, with two of them, attempts i Drimin, On" the way cut Carter oi A a ML fe tat ot on a to secure some for his and himeelf, CHAPTER V. (Continued. : A Break for Liberty. HAT he who hesitates fs lost Proved itself a true aphor- ism in this instance, for an- other moment saw me oreep- ing stealthily toward the @oor of the guard house. Gently I pressed it open a crack; @fiough to discover a dozen blacks Stretched upon their silks in profound slumber. At tho far side of the room @ rack held the swords and firearms of the men. Warliy I pushed the door a trifle wider to admit my body. A hinge fave out a resentful groan. Ono of the men stirred, and my heart stood etill, I cursed myself for a fool to have thus jeopardized our chances for escape, but there was nothing for it now but to see the adventure through. With a spring as swift and as ‘noisiess as a tiger's I lit beside the guardsman who had moved. My hands hovered above his throat await- ing the moment that his eyes should ‘open. For what seemed an eternity to my overwrought nervos I remained poised thus. Then the fellow turned again ‘upon his side and resumed the even respiration of deep slumber. Carefully I picked my way between and over the soldiers until I had gained the rack at the far side of the room, Here I turned to survey the sleeping men. All were quiet. Their regular breathing rose and fell in a soothing rhythm that seemed to me the sweet- est music I had ever heard. Gingerly I drew a long-sword from the rack. The scraping of the scab- bard against Ite holder as I with- drew it sounded Ie the filing of cast fron with a great rasp, and I looked to sce the room immediately filled with alarmed and attacking guards- qnen. But none stirred. ‘Phe second sword I withdrew nolse- lessly, but the third clanked in its ecabbard with a frightful din. I knew that it must awaken some of the men at st, and was on the point of forestalling their attack by @ rapid charge tor the doorway, when again, to my Surprise, not a black moved. Either t -y were wondrous heavy ra: olso the noises that | lo were really much less than they le to me I was @bout io leave the rack when my attention was attracted by tho gevolvers. I know that [ could not cary more than one away with me, for I was already too heavily lw to move quietly with any degree of safety or speed. ‘As I took one of them from ita pin my eye fell for the first time on an open window beside the rack. Ah, here was a splendid means of escape, for it let directly upon the dock, not twenty feet from the water's edge. ast congratulated myself 1 heard the door opposite me open; ani si looking me full in the face, stood the officer of the guard, He vidently took in tha situation at a glance and appreciated the gravity of it as quickly as I, for our revol- vers came up simultaneously, and the sounds of the two reports were as ‘one as we touched the buttons on the that exploded the cartridges. I felt the wind of his bullet as it ‘whiaged past my ear, and at the same instant I saw him crumple to the ground. Where I hit him I do not knew, nor if I killed him, for scar had he started to collapse when 1 was through the window at my rear. fa ‘another second the waters of Omean closed above my head, and the three of us were making for the little @ hundred yards away. r wag burdened with the boy - and 1 with the three long swords; the revolver 1 had dropped 60 we were both strong swimmers, tt weemed ‘to me that we moved at a snail's pace through the water. I was ewimmin, gntirely beneath the eur: ace, but Xodar was compe wae, youth breathe, s0 tt waa @ wonder that wo were not dis- ered long before we were. Fin tact we reached (ho boat's side and were all aboard before the watch upon the battleship, roused by tho detected us, ‘Then an alarm gun bellowed from the ship's bow, its deep boom reverberating in deafening tones beneath the rocky dome of Omean. Instantly the sleeping thousands were awake, The decks of a thou- sand monster craft teemed with figat- ing men, for an alarm on Omean was a thing of rare occurrence. ‘We cast awuy before the sound of the first gun had died and another second saw us rising swiftly from the surface of the sea. I lay at full length along the deck with the lever and buttons of control before me. Xodar and the boy were stretched directly behind me, prone also, that little resistance to possib! eC. ‘Riso high,” whispered Xodar, ‘They dare not fire thelr heavy guns toward the dome—the fragments of the shells would drop back among their own craft. If we are high our keelplates will protect us from rifle ire. 1 did as he bade, Below us we could \ gee the men leaping into the water by + | hundreds and striking out for the emall cruisers and one: flyers that {' fay moored about the big ships, The jorger craft were getting under way, following us rapidly, but net rising from the water, “A little to your right!" erled Xodar, for there are no poluts of com~ Pass upon Omean, where every di- peotion 3 due north, The “TARZAN” Man Is ai His Best in This Wonder Stor dgar Rice Burroughs mA APES," Et The Evening Wortd Dafly Magazine, Wednesda: In the Subway yi The pandemonium that had broken out below us was deafening. Rifles cracked, ofhcers shouted orders, men yelled directions to one another from the water and from the decks of myriad boats, while through all ran the purr of countless propellers cut- ting water and ai Thad not dared pull my speed lever to the highest for fear of overrunning the mouth of the shaft that passed from Oinean's dome to the world above, but even so wo were hitting a clip that I doubt has ever been equalled on the windless sea. ‘The smaller flyers were commencing to rise toward us when Xodar shouted: “The shaft! The shaft! Dead ahead.” I saw the opening, black and yawn- ing In tho glowing dome of this un- derworld A ten-man cruiser was rising dil- rectly in front to cut off our escape. It was the only vessel that stood on our way, but at the rate that It was travelling it would come between us and tho shaft in plenty of time to thwart our plans. It was rising at an angie of about forty-five degrees dead ahead of us, with the evident intention of combing ‘us with grappling hooks from above as jt skimmed over our deck. There was but one forlorn hope for us, and I took it. [t was useless to try to pass over her, for that would have allowed her to force us against the rocky dome above, and we were already too near that as it was, ‘To have attempted to dive below her would have put us entirely at her mercy, and precisely where sho wanted us, On either side a hundred other menacing craft were hastening toward us. The alternative was filled with risk—in fact, it was all risi with but a slender chance of succe: As we neared the cruiser I rose as though to pass over her, so that she would do just what she did do, rise at a steeper angle to force me atill higher. ‘Then as we were almost upon her I yelled to my companions to hold tight, | and throwing the little vessel into her highest speed J deflected her bows at the same instant until we were running horizontally and at te’ rific velocity straight for the cruiser’s keel, Her commander may lave seen my | intentions then, but it was too late. Almost at the Instant of impact 1 turned my bow upward, and then with a shattering jolt we were in collision. What I had hoped for happened. ‘The cruiser, already tilted at @ peril- ous angle, Was carried completely over backward by the impact of my smaller vessel. Her crew fell twisting and scream- ing through the air to the water far below, while the ship, her propellers still madly churning, dived swiftly head foremost after them to the bot- tom of the Sea of Omean, ‘The collision crushed our steel bow, and notwithstanding every effort on our part came near to burling us from the deck. As it was we landed in a Wildly clutching hee? at ile very extremity of the flier, where Xodar and 1 succeeded in grasping the hand- rail, but the boy would have plunged overboard had I> not fortunately krasped his ankle as he was already tially over. nguided, our vessel careened wild- ly on its mad flight, rising ever near- er the rocks above. It took but an instant, however, for me to regain the levers, ang with the roof barely fifty feet above, T turned her no: more Into the horizontal plane black mouth of the shaft ‘The collision had retarded our prog- ress, and now a hundred swift scouts were close upon us. Xodar had told me that ascending the shaft by virtue of our repulsive rays alone would give our enemies their best chance to over- take us, since our propellers would be idle, and in rising we would be outclassed by many of our pursuers. ‘The swifter craft are seldom equipped with large buoyancy tanks, since the added bulk of thom tends to reduce a vessel's speed. many boats were now quite close to us it Was Inevitable that we would be quickly overhauted in the shaft, and captured or killed in short order. To me there always seems a way to gain the opposite side of an obstacle. Tf one cannot pass over St, or below it, or around it, why, then, there 1s but a single alternative left, and that ts to pass through {t "1 could not get around the fact that many of these other boats could rise faster than ours by the fact of thetr greater buoyancy, but T was none the less determined to reach the outer world far in advance of them or dio a death of my own choosing in event of failure. “Reverse!” screamed Zodar, behind me. “For the love of your first an- castor, reverse! We aro at the shaft.” “Hold tight!” I screamed in reply. “Grasp the boy and hold tight--we are going straight up the shaft.” The words were scurce out of my mouth as we swept beneath the pitch black opening. I threw the bow hard up, dragged the speed lever to Its last notch, and clutching a stanchion with one hand and the steering whee! with the other hung on like grim death and consigned my soul to tts Author, I heard @ little exclamation of sur- rise from Zodar, followed by @ grim jaugh. The boy laughed too and sald some- thing which I could not catch for tho whistling of the wind of our aw- ful speed. I looked above my head hoping to catch the gleam of stars by which I could direct our course and hold the hurtling thing that bore us true to the centre of the shaft. To have touched the side at the speed we wers making would doubtless have resulted In instant death for us all, But not a star showed above—only utter and Impenetrable darkness. Then I glanced below me and thers T saw a rapidly diminishing circle of lght—the mouth of the opening above the phosphorescent radiance of Omean, By this I steered, endeavor- ing to keep the circle of ght below me ever perfect. At best it was a slender cord that ‘held us from destruction, and I think that I steered that night more by tn. tuition and blind fatth than by ekill or_reason, We were not lost in the shaft, and possibly the very fact of our enormois wpeed saved us, for evidently wo start- ed in the right direction, and so quickly were we out again that wo had no time to alter our courses, her again for the y, 1 CAN'T HELP IT SToP PUSHING! Omean lies perhaps two miles be- low the surface crust of Mars, Our speed must have approximated two hundred iniles an hour, for Martian fliers are swift, so that at most we were in the shaft not over forty sec- onda, We must have been out of it for #ome seconds before I realized that we had accomplished the impossible, Rlack darkness enshrouded — all about us. There were neither moons nor stars. Never vefore had T seen such a thing upon Mars, and for the moment L was nonplused, Then the explanation came to me. t was summer at the South Pole. The ice cap Was melting and those mote- oria phenomena, clouds, unknown upon the greater part of Barsoom, were shutting out the lights of heav- en_from this portion of the planet. Fortunate indeed tt was for us, nor did it take long to grasp the oppor- tunity for escape which this happy condition offered us. Keeping the hoat's nose at a stiff angle T raced her for tho impenetrable curtain which nature had hung above this dying world to shut us out from the sight of our pursuing encmies, We plunged through the cold damp without diminishing our speed, in a moment emerged into the lous light of the two moo the million stars, 1 dropped Into @ horizontal course and headed due north. Our enemies were a good half hour behind us with no conception of our direction. We had performed the miraculous and come through a thousand dan- gers unscathed—we had eacaped from tha land of the First Born, No other prisoners tn all the ages of Barsoom had done this thing, and now as I looked back upon it tt did not eeem to have been #o difficult af- ter all. T said as much to Xodar, over my shoulder. “It is very wonderful, neverthe Jess,” he replied. “No one else could havea accomplished {t but John Car- ter,” he added with emphasis, At the sound of that name the boy Jumped ¢o his feet. “John Carter!" he erted in amaze- ment, “John Carter? Why, man John’ Carter, Prince of Hellum, has been dead for many years, T am his gon.” CHAPTER VI. The Eyes in the Dark. Y won! 1 could not believe my ears, Slowly I rose and faced the handsome youth. Now that I looked at him close- ly T commenced to see why his faco and personality had attracted me so strongly, There was much of his mother’s incomparable beauty in his clear-cut features, but It was strongly mascu- line beauty; his gray eyes and the expression of them were mine. ‘The boy stood facing me, half hope and half uncertainty in his look. “Tell me all you can of the years that I have been robbed of her dear compantonship.”” With a ery of pleasure he sprang toward me and threw his arms about my neck, and for a brief moment, as T held my boy close to me, the tears welled to my eyes, “Your stature, your manner, the ferocity your swordsmanship,” said the boy, “are as my mother has Je scribed them to me # thousand times —but even with such evidence I could scarce credit the truth of what seemed so improbable to me, how- ever much I desired it to be true. Do you know what thing it was that con- vinced more than all the others?” “What, my boy?" I asked, “Your first words to me—they were of my mother, None else but the man who loved her as she has told me my father did would have thought first of her.” “For long years, my son, I can scarce recall a moment that the radi- ant vision of your mother's face hi not been before me. Tell me of her. “Those who have known her long- est say that she has not changed, un- less it be to grow more beautiful— were that possible. Only, when she thinks I am not about to see her her face grows very sad and wistful. “She thinks ever of you, my father; and all Helium mourns with her and for her. Her grandfather's people Jove her, They love you also and fair- ly worship your memory as the savior of Barsoom. “Each year that brings its anniver- sary of the day that saw you racing across a nearly dead world to unlock the secret of that awful portal bebind which lay the mighty power of life for countless millions a@ great festival is held in your honor. But there are tears mingled with the thanksgiving —tears of real regret that the author of the happiness is not with them to share the joy of living he died to give them. Upon all Barsoom there is no greater name than John Carter,” “and by what name has your mother called you, my boy?” I asked. of Helium asked that T be named with my fathi name, but my mother sald no; that you and she had chosen a name for me to- gether, and that your wish must be honored before all oth So the name that she called me is the one that you desired, a combination of hers and yours—Carthoris.”” Xodar had been at the wheel as I talked with my son, and now he called me. “She ts dropping badly by the head, John Carter,” he said, “So long ax we are rising at a stiff angle it was not noticeable, but now that Tain trying to keep @ horizontal course it is different. The wound in her how has opened one of ber forward ray tanks.” It was true; and after I had exam- ined tho damage I found it a much graver matter than I had antictpated Not only was the forced angle at which we were compelled to maintain the bow in order to keep @ horizontal course greatly imped our speed, tut at the rate that we were losing our repulsive raya from the forward tanks It waa but a question of an hour or more when we would be floating stern up and helpless, We had slightly reduced our speed with the dawning of a sense of secu- rity; but now I took the helm once more and pulled the noble litte engine wide open, so that again we raced north at a terrific velocity, In the mean time Carthoris and Xodar, with tools in hand, were puttering with the great rent in the bow !n a hope- less endeavor to stem the tide of en- caping raya. Tt was atill dark when we passed the dead seas; low surromiding hills, with here and there the grim and silent cities of the dead past; great piles of mighty arcliitecture tenanted only by age-old memories of a once powerfil race, and by the great white apes of v. Februa ry 2, 1916 awit, By Maurice Ketten and when he jen’t sure whether HEA Next Week's Comp duel of hearts. Don't forget to look for the first 4n next Monday's Evening World. They did not like it, but both were wood soldiers, and it had been agreed that I should command, ‘The sun al- STOP PUSHING OR ILL KNOCHe YouR in @ horizontal position. Lower and lower sagged the bow until it be- came necessary to stop the engine to prevent our flight terminating in a swift drive to the ground. As the sun rose and the light of a new day swept away the darkness of night our craft gave a final spasmodio plunge, turned half upon her aide, and then, with deck tilting at @ sick- ening angle, swung in a slow circle, her bow dropping further below her stern each moment. To hand-rail and stanchion we clung, and finally, as we saw the end approaching, snapped the buckles of our harness to the rings at her sides, In another moment the deck reared at an angle of ninety degrees, and we hung in our leather, with feet dangling, @ thousand yards above the ground. I was swinging quite close ta the controlling devices, so I reached out to the lever that directed the rays of repulsion, The boat responded to the touch, and very gently we began to sink toward the ground, y half an hour before we Directly north of us rose a lofty range of hills, toward 1 we decided to make our way, since they afforded greater opportun- ity for concealment from the pursuers we were confident might stumble in this direction, An hour later found us in the time- rounded gullies of the hills, amid the beautiful dowing plants that abound in the arid waste places of Barsoom, ‘There we found numbers of huge milk-giving shrubs — that strange plant which serves in great part as d and drink for the wild hordes of en men. It was indeed a boon to us, for we all were nearly famished. Beneath a cluster of thene, which afforded perfect concealment from wandering air-scouts, we lay down to sleep—for me the first time in many hours. ‘This was the beginning of my fifth day upon Barsoom since T had found myself suddenly translated from my cottage on the Hudson to Dor—the valley beautiful, the valley hideous. In ail this time I had slept but twice, though once the clock around within the storehouse of the therns It was mid-afternoon when I was awakened by some one selzing my hand and covering it with kisses, With « start I opened my e¢ into the beautiful face of “My prince! My prince!” A in an ecstasy of happiness, * is you whom [ had mourned as dead, My ancestors have been good tu me, I have not lived in vain.” Tho girl's voice awoke Xodar and Carthoris. The boy gazed upon tho woman in surprise, but she did not seem to realize the presence of an- oyner than I, She would have thrown hér arms about my neck and smoth- ered me with caresses had I not wenuy but firmly disengaged my- welt. “Come, come Thuvia,” T sald sooth- ingly, “you are overwrought by the danger and hardships you have paased through. You forget yourself, as you forget that I am the husband of the Princess of Helmum.” “I forget nothing, my prince,” she replied ‘ou have spoken no word of love to ma, nor do 1 expect that hall; but nothing can pre- loving you ould not take the place of De- My greatest ambition is prince, a i your uk, honor could 1 Barsoom. no Kt ress could E hops 1t wad becoming more and mora As paid, Lam no da diMcult to maintain our Lite veuse), dies’ man, and t wmust adust that d ‘ . man Block oFF ! seldom have felt 80 uncomfortable and embarrassed as I did that moment. While I was quite familiar with the Martian custom which allows female slaves to Martian men, whose high and chivalrous honor is always am- pe protection for every woman in the ousshold, yet I had never myself chosen other than men as my body servants, “If | ever return to Helium, Thu- via,” I said, “you shall go with moe, but as an honored equal and not as a slave, There you shall find plenty of handsome young nobles who would face Issus herself to win a sinile from you, and we shall have you married in short order to one of the best of them. Forget your foolish gratitude-bagot- ten infatuation which your innocence has mistaken for love. IT like your friendship better, Thuvia.”’ “You are my master; it shall be as you say,” she replied simply, but there was @ note of sadness tn her voice. “How came you here, Thuvia?” 1 asked. “And where ls id “Tho great Thark, I foar, sho replied sadly. “He was a mighty fighter, but a multitude of green warriors of another horde than his overwhelmed him. ‘The last that | saw of him they were bearing him, wounded and bleeding, to the erted city from which they had sallied to attack us.” “You are not sure that he is dead, then?” I asked. “And where is this city of which you speak?” “It ig just beyond this range of hills. The vessel in which you #0 nobly resigned # place that we might eacape defied our small @kill in navi- gation, with the result that we drifted aimlessly about for two days. Then we deok to abandon the craft, and attempt to mako our way on foot to the nearest waterway. “Yesterday we crossed those hills and came upon the dead city beyond. We had passed within Its streets and were walking toward the central por- tion, when, at an intersecting avenue, wo saw @ body of green warriors ap- proaching. Tare Tarkas was in advance, and they saw him, but me they did not seo. The Thark sprang back to my vide and forced me Into an adjacent doorway, where he told me to remain ‘There will be no escape for now,’ he said; ‘for these be thea Wa hoons of the south. When they have seen my metal it will be to the death.’ “Then ho stepped out to meet them. Ah, my prince, such fighting! For an hour they swarmed about him, until the Warhoon dead formed a hill where be had stood; but at last they overwhelmed him, those behind push- ing the foremost pon him until there remained no space to swing his great sword. “Then he stumbled and went down, and they rolled over him like @ hugs wave, When they carried him away toward tho heart of the city he was dead, I think, for I did not see him move,” fore we go further we must be sure,” I gaid. “I cannot leave Tars ‘Tarkas alive among the Warhoons, ‘To-night I shall enter the city and make sure.” “And [ shall go with you," spoke sy, Not for uereed where mor T shall go Jp to will re alone m: would invite mone. If) turo fur you.” ready was low, so that T did not have long to wait before the sudden dark- ness of Barsoom engulfed us. With a parting word of instruction to Carthoris and Xodar, in case I should not return, I bade them all farewell and set forth at a rapid dog-trot toward the city As I emerged from tho hill the nearer moon was swinging its wild flight through the heavens, its bright beams turning to burnished silver the barbaric splendor of the ancient me- tropolls. The city had been built upon the gently rolling foothills that, in the dim and distant past, had sloped down to meet the sea. It was due to this fact that I had no difficulty tn entering the streets unobserved. Tho green hordes that use these deserted cities seldom occupy more than a few squares about the central plaza, and as they come and go, always across the dead sea bottoms that the cities face, it is usually a matter of comparative ease to enter from the hillside. Once within the street I kept clone in the dense shadows of the walls. At intersections I halted @ moment to make sure that none was in sight be- fore I sprang quickly to the shadows of the oppostte side. Thus 1 the journey to the v' As I approach inhabited portion of the aity I was made aware of the proximity of war- riors’ quarters by the squealing and grunting of the thoats and zitidars cor- ralled within the hollow courtyards formed by the buildings surrounding each square, These old familiar sounds that are po distinctive of green Martian life sent @ thrill of pleasure surging through me. It was as one might feel on com- ing home after a long absence, Jt was amid such sounds that I had first courted the incomparable Dejah ‘Thoris in the age-old marble halle of the dead city of Korad. As I stood in the shadows at the far corner of the first square which housed members of the horde 1 saw warriors emerging from several of the build- ‘They all went in the same direo- tion, toward @ great building which stood in the centre of tho plaza, My knowledge of green Martian customs convinced me that this was either the quarters of the principal chieftain or contained the audience chamber wherein the jeddak met his jeds and lesser chieftains. In either event it was evident that something was afoot Which might have 4 bearing on the recent capture of Tars Tarkas. To reach this building, which I now felt it imperative that I do, I must need traverse the entire length of one square and cross a broad avenue and a portion of the plaza. From the noises which came from every courtyard about me I knew that there were many people in the surrounding build- ings probably several communities of the great horde of the Warhoot of the south To pass undetected among all these people way in itself a difficult task, but if I was to find and rescue the «reat Thark L must expect even mi formidable obstacles before suce could be mine, I had entered the city from the south, and now stovd on the corner of the avenue through which I had passed and the first intersecting ave- nue south of the plaza, The buildings on the south side of this square did not appear to be in- habited, as I could see no lights, and #0 L decided to gain the inner court- yard through ono of them, Nothing occurred to int progress through the d 1 chose, and I came into the inner court clone to the rear walls of the cast buildings without detection, Within the court a great herd of thonts and zitidars moved reatlessly about, eropping the moss-like ocher egetation which overgrows practi- cally the entire uncultivated area of Mars. Close to the east wall, beneath the srhanging balconies of the second rs, L crept in dense shadows the full longth of the courtyard until I caine to the buildings at the north end, These were lighted for about three floors up, but above the third floor all was dark. The reaching of the baloony of the second floor was 4 matter of easy accomplishment—an agile leap gave my hands a grasp upon the stone l above, In another {natant n myself up on the balcony. P © open windows T juatting upon furs, grunting tmonosyllable which, in n with thelr wondrous tele wers, {s ample for their con- requirements to listen to thetr r entered the room ond a! he cried. “We the Thark before Kab another with you.” of the animals connecti pathic po Versationa are to Kadja, Br » warrior addressed arose, and, beckoning to Ww squatting near, the three lef partment fe T could follow them the chance might come to free Tars Tar kas at once. At least 1 would learn the location of his prison 1 had no mora than entered the ridor than I saw tho three wa#ri the other end--those whom T had just #eon leaving tho apartment. Then a turn to the right took them from my sight again Quickly £ hastened along the halt way in pursuit. My gait was reckless, but L felt thar f ud been kind tn- deed An opportunity within Krust {TL could not ate ford tos elude nt - Ar the fit \ vidor I floors at nd The three had wy ide left the floor by. this avenue. ‘Thot they had 6 down ‘and not up I was euro trom my to throw suet bel When Two Women Love the Same Man What Is He to Do? That is one of the several queer problems confronting the hero of A MAN’S By Eleanor M. Ingram ; Novel in The Evening World This {s an up to date New York story and tells of a strange he Joves either or both of them, RTH instalment of “A MAN'S HEARTH” knowledge of these ancient bullding» and the methods of the Warhoons. And so I felt certain that Tars Tar- kas lay in the dark pits beneath some nearby bullding, and that in that direction I should find the trafl of the three warriors leading to his cell. Nor was I wrong. At the bottom of the runway—or, rather, at the Janding on the floor below—I saw that the shaft descended into the pits beneath; and as I glanced down the flickering ght of a torch reveal ed the presence of the three I was trailing. Down they went toward the pits beneath the structure, and at a bat distance behind I followed the filcker of their torch. The way led through ® maze of tortuous corridors, un- ces save for the ght they car- We had gone perhaps a hund: yards when the party turned bree: ly through a doorway at their right T hastened on as rapidly as I dared non by darkness until I reached © pol caren at which they had left the There, through an open 4. y pe Png the chaing from, the ark, Tars T: 5 = ce to the walle oe ustling him roughi: ween joel they came Immediately trees ‘he chamber, so quickly, in fact, that 1 me 4 to being appro! ‘ managed to ru: 4 corridor in the ‘direction Sedtbae going in my pursuit of them far bce to be within the radfus of from the cell, a ae Presently I came to a pl five corridors a place where mon petnt. diverged from a com- T hastened ak them for some little di h ance, when sudden! " ‘enly the faint ight of the torch pega but as the silence of the tomb. Quickly I realized the warriors taken one of th bea their prisoner, “ant corrMore with with a feeling Fellet to take Up a gore a 4“ much safer and more desirable position behind them. It was much slower work returning, for now the darkness waa ea Crete. the Bos ‘kness was as utter fter what seemed eternity ates Treas the place and recog. Y stoping across trances to the several se aan T had counted five -¢ thems at In not one, howevi 2 faintest alan o¢ lan ee gain I retraced my ast the parting of the waye, when, to. my surprise, T came upon’ the entrance to three diverging corridors, any one Pie been anne have traversed in Y dash after the hag been following, aed <i ‘ere Was @ pretty fix indeed! Once back at the point where the five passageways inet, IT might wait with somo assurance for the return of the warriors with Tars Tark ba A knowledge of their customs lent color to the belief that he was but being escorted to the audience- ghamber to have sentence passed upon But unless T could find y y back to that point the chances were Most excellent that I would wander i dave ehdpny J the awful blackness overcome by thirst al nger, Tay down to dig, orn NOES What was that? A faint shuffling sounded behind me, and, as I cast a hasty glance over my shoulder, my blood froze in my bi Sor the thing I saw there. rasping my long sword tight! my hand, I backed slowly aicegtae corridor away from the thing that watched me, but ever as I retreated the eyes advanced, nor was there any sound, not even the sound of breath- ing, except the occasional shuffling sound as of the dragging ot a dead limb that had first attracted my at-~ tention, On and on I went, but I could not escape iny sinister pursuer. Suddenly heard the shuffling noise at my right and, looking, saw anoth@r pair of eyes, evidently approaching from an intersecting corridor. As I started to renew my slow retreat I heard the noise repeated behind me, and then, before I could turn, I heard it Oy Jett, ie things were all about me, They had me surrounded at the tntersec- tion of two corridors, Retreat cut off tn all directions unless Tohose to charge one of the beasts. Even then I had no doubt but that the others wou! url themselves upon my back, ' At length I could endure ft so and, taking a fresh gri long sword I turned onde d charged down upon one of rmentors, As [ was almost upon it the thing pated before me, but a sound behind caused me to wheel in ne to see three pairs of eyes rush- ing at me from the rear, With a cry of rage I turned to meet the cowardly beasts, but as I ad- thelr longer, upon my vanced they retreated as had fellow. Another glance over my shoulder discovered the first eyes sneaking on m in T charged, only to se treat before me and hear muffled rush of the three at my the bac At that moment I caught another glimpse from tho corner of my eye of * the single pair of eyes at my back making a sudden rush upon me 7 turned to meet the charge; there was a quick rush of the three from the other direction, but I determined to pursue the single pair until I eh have at least settled my account with one of the beasts, and thus be re- Heved of the strain of meeting at- tacks from both directions, 1 raised my sword-arm to deal the low that should free me, and then 1 felt a heavy body upon my back, \ cold, motst, slimy something fae toned fteelf upon my throat, { stumbled and went down, (To Continued) ad) 4 -