Part 17 (1/2)

For ht Up to that moment I had followed blindly in the tracks of Holht that the trail he passed over would carry ination was too stunned by the happenings of the night totheht an opportunity to oat track which the youngster was scra over I turned her and higher ith bleeding fingers and knees, but at last Holed ely ”We ot to our feet and started to run toe knew to be the direction of the cavern The ground sloped gradually, and we reasoned that it would continue to fall away till we reached the mouth of the cavern by which Leith had entered froht there was little vegetation, and at a ait we sped across a bare stretch where the only obstacles were lureat profusion

”If--if we could find the place and block the devil and all his gang inside,” gasped Hol to entertain,” I spluttered

”Wethat we've been picked to put that devil out of existence That's why I'irls back there at the caht or some other time I don't know”

”The sooner the better,” I sta out of the way is going to happen, and I've got a hunch that the so will happen to us”

Hol down the slope at an angle that we judged would bring us somewhere near the entrance At , but soster looked upon himself as the Fate-appointed destroyer of Leith came to me as I raced beside him, and I put aside the fears for Edith Herndon's safety that besieged me as I ran The last doubt about Leith's treachery had been chased away by the dance we had witnessed, and I felt assured that the , who, for some purpose that I could not allow ht the foolish old scientist and his daughters into a place of terrors Treachery had been apparent from the start It was only the confidence of the old antiquarian that had blinded our eyes to a score of incidents that should have convinced us that the brute had soh the night the big sallow-faced giant appeared to us as a devil, a fiend that was connected with some sort of horrible practices that had continued to exist in this res had been lost in those islands that were visited by traders and missionaries

Kaipi connected the dance with death, and the same conclusion had cohtened Fijian

Holh a ed were in a direct line with the crevice through which we had witnessed the happenings in the cave

”We should be near the place if there is an entrance to it on this side,” he muttered ”This pile of rocks looks froh It wound in and out aainst the black surroundings

Holman stopped and took up a handful of the dust ”They coat it with coral lirowled ”Coht ahead”

I pulled the arster The corrosive terror of the earlier part of the evening had fled then, and my nerves had taken up a sort of dare-devil attitude toward all happenings that the future ht of Leith, the greater his villainy appeared to be, and to save Edith Herndon froly ruffian was a task that would give the greatest coward in the world the courage of a warrior

The white path wound in and out of the boulders, which becah a dark passage into the side of the hill We felt that ere at the mouth of the burrohich Leith and his dancers had entered, and we moved into the shadow to reconnoitre Leith had informed the Professor that he would not return to the ca, so the chances were that the treacherous scoundrel was still assisting at the cereo in?” whispered Holman

”As you like,” I answered

He moved toward the mouth of the burrow, then stopped and turned toward ht,” I replied

”We've got six hours,” he whispered ”Co, we'll chance it”

Very cautiously weour way along the walls that were cold and dah from the crown of the cliff The place was noton one side of the wall, Hol the other, could touch me whenever he wished to ascertain my position Our shoes made no sound upon the floor of the corridor It was covered deep with fine dust, upon which alked noiselessly

An occasional bat fluttered past us, but outside the flapping of the wings not a sound disturbed the stillness of the place The silence of the outside was intensified a hundredfold In the open, one heard the crooning of the trees as the soft winds froe, but in the natural passage through which we crawled in search of Leith the air felt as if it had not been disturbed for centuries It was heavy and thick, possessing a faint odour that seemed to rise from the dust beneath our feet

We had walked about one hundred yards along the corridor when it widened suddenly The walls that ere following turned off at right angles, and froh a dozen sh up above our headsthat we had entered a cavern of vast proportions We sensed its vastness The few streaks of uide-posts that enabled us to ht and extent of the place

We stopped and ether instinctively Holman put his mouth close to my ear

”What do youinto the one that runs out to the face of the cliff,” I replied

”But how are we to cross it?”