m door and peeped out. The rocky corridor was
deserted, no sound came from the great cave, and the whole place seemed
almost uncannily silent. With an effort of will Myra mastered her
panic and tiptoed silently along the corridor towards the outer hall.

The corridor was lighted, but she found the hall, when she reached it,
in darkness, save for one tiny light above the electric switch on the
wall near the entrance. Myra pressed the switch and at once the
apartment was flooded with light.

"Oh, God, help me to remember!" breathed Myra, after a swift glance
around, to assure herself the place was untenanted. "Help me to get
away--if only it is to die among the mountains."

She had watched Don Carlos closely a few hours previously as he
manipulated the levers which opened the secret door when giving
Standish his freedom, and the thought had flashed into her mind that
she could manipulate the levers as he had done, and escape into the
outer world.

Her first attempt was a failure, and she bit her lips in chagrin and
hurt her delicate hands tugging vainly at various knobs and slides.
But again and again she tried, and at last, when she was about to give
up in despair, she heard a sudden click and the great door swung open!

CHAPTER XVIII

With a gasp of relief, Myra darted out, negotiated the narrow crevice
which hid the door from view, and found herself in the open--and in
brilliant sunshine. She paused for a moment, to collect herself,
fancied she heard a noise behind her, and sped away like a startled doe.

There appeared to be no path, and she ran aimlessly and without the
slightest sense of direction, clambering over rocks and slithering down
slopes, several times narrowly escaping disaster, and once only
escaping from plunging headlong over a precipice by clinging
frantically to a boulder on the very verge. And the boulder, which
must have been balanced like a logan stone, went crashing over the side
of the precipice the moment she had released her hold on it and
recovered her equilibrium.

Although she had, as it were, been courting death, Myra was so
terrified that she could not proceed for several minutes, and she had
to muster up all her courage to negotiate the perilous path. After
that, she advanced with greater caution, and at last reached a little
grassy plateau, a sort of oasis amid the bleak rocks, commanding a
magnificent view of the mountain range and the country.

Far below her, My