Under the Andes

ns in that black hole. At the first rushing impact I shouted to Harry: "Keep your back to

ave been overpowered in thirty seconds; as it was, we were forced to handle half a dozen of them at once, wh

hemselves to my legs and feet and tried to bring me down from beneath; once, in slashing at the head of one whose teeth w

well-the curious, rattling sound of a man who i

fe, feet, hands, teeth. I reached his coat, his arm; it was dangerous

s about his throat, and lunged forward

ighting togethe

and literally descended on our heads from the air. We could not have held out much longer; our breath was coming in quic

red to b

d bell. The walls sent it back and forth with deafening echoes; it was as tho

magic, the as

It was as though the horde of unseen devils had melted into thin air. There were movements on the ground, for many of them had been wounded; a man cannot always reach the spot in the d

hat had saved us, and we found ourselves alone-or at least unmolested-for in the dark

ea of the desperateness of our defense until I essayed to scramble over the heap of

, and we were forced to grope round in that unsp

?" I asked when on

d two or three of the brutes got their teeth in me. In the n

and I, too, had felt their teeth. But, despite our utter weariness and our wounds, we wanted nothing-no

t they might return. So I spoke, and H

ats and for our wounds; and rest and food. We thought little of safety. O

ich, later in life, he finds himself unable to laugh a

it was imperative that we should find water, and we struggled on, traversing narrow passages and immense cave

Time and again Harry sank to the ground and refused to rise until I perforce l

r and slower. It was soul-destroying work. I believe that in the last hour we made not more than half a mi

ry was leading the way, for I had found that that slight responsibility fortified him.

ainst him; and at the same time I felt a queer sensatio

e down as he did so, and dropped to his knees; a

Man, it'

ave contained all the poisons in the world and we would have neither

irts. Then we arranged our clothing for cushions and pillows a

en we awoke our joints were as stiff as though they had gotten rusty with the ye

ving first removed our clothing. But we were now at that point where to drink merely aggra

ll you, I must eat! If

of food as one that may rightfully contain the elements of tragedy. We seem to be in the positi

t I am not made o

f our getting out of this? Take it like a man. Is it right for a man who has

e I prefer not to furnish amusement for the devil. There comes a time, I belie

t are we

y one hope. We must smell out the

ater took them! I was forced to set my teeth deep into my lip to keep from crying out,

sought our clothing and prepared to start on our all but hopeless search. We ha

cry: "My knife is gone!" and stopped short. I clapped my hand to my own belt instincti

ot yours?"

him no he le

a useless waste of time; it was next to certain that the weapons had been lost in the water

e absence of light; and though we could by no means see clearly, nor even could properly be said to see at all, still we began to dis

arry cried eagerly, "Thank Heaven, I can see your nose!" our strain

utes or hours, but of days. The assault of time is the one that unnerves a man, especially when it is aide

were tempted to trust ourselves to one of those rushing torrents, but what reason we had left told us that our little remaining strength was u

that propelled us forward must have been buried deep within the seat of animal instinct, for we

rd-forward! I

rtune that saved us, for it gave me a spring for action and endowed me with new life. As luck

and bathed him and made him drink, while all the time a st

ed he would never awaken; yet I feared to touch him. Those were weary hours, squatting by his side with his hand grippe

is hand; and then came his voic

l, this is

Harry boy;

courage into my own voi

ay, Paul-I've ju

right

Do you remember that morning on the mountain-in Colorado-when you came on us suddenly at sunris

t I pressed his hand to let

e end. You've been a good sport. We made a fight, didn't

ot gone yet. When a man has enough fight in him to

dea of what he was saying. The old days possessed his mind, and, to tell the truth

efore us, I sprang to my feet with a shout and stood transfixed with as

all the god

here it turned abruptly; and the corner thus formed was one blaze of f

still it remained. It was supernaturally brilliant; or so it

an who had just been ready t

pport him. "And, for Heaven's sake, don't make any noise! We're i

ded the boy excitedly.

Bible and ancient mythology made such a fuss about the lighting up of the world. Modern

long as Harry and I had remained in the dark passage and byways of the cavern we had p

ell that the denizens of this underworld could see as well in the darkness as in the light-pe

e were forced to go very slowly; I supported him as well as I was able, being myself anything but an engin

slight an exertion, and I could scarcely suppress a cry of amazement when,

his chin and lip and cheeks had grown to a length incredible in so short a space of time. I soon had reason to kno

you took like a gh

arm was round

g, Harry-though Heaven knows we can find nothing worse than

thin the patch of light and turned to

ugely fantastic sight that met our gaze. With us it was a sing

me then much larger; from where we stood it appeared to be at least two miles to the opposite side. Th

eats of rock, squatted row after row of the mos

es of a curious, bloated appearance, and eyes-the remainder of the face was entirely concealed by thick hair-eyes dull

ed silently on their stone seats, g

as black as night, and curiously smooth and silent. Its banks sloped by degrees for a hundred fe

from each other, were three-what shall I call them?-islands, or columns. They

ady, gigantic column of fire. These it was that gave the light, and it was little wonder we

onless lake, nor the leaping tongues of flame. We forgot these when we followed the gaze of that terrifying audience and saw a sig

of some strangely lustrous rock. Prisms of a formation new to me-innumerable thousands of them-ca

rth from their brilliant angles. The height of this column was double that of the others

n its top, high above the surface of the lake, surrounded by the mount

stened strangely in the lurid, weird light. And of all the ten thousand reflections that shot at u

hite, supple body. She glided across, back and forth, now this way, now that, to the very edge o

taggering, overwhelming. Have you ever stood before a great painting or a beautiful statue and

nderstand the sensation that overpowered me as I beheld, in the mi

minutely described to me-described by a beautiful and famous woman

hen that she would da

g as I had gazed. His eyes were opened wide, staring at the s

d spread over his face. Then I realized the danger, and I endeavored once more to put my arm round his shoulder; but he shook me off with hot

ed, and, stretching forth his arms toward the dancer on th

Desiree!