t pushed it open and his body
rolled inward upon the floor.

In the great apartment where the treasure lay less damage was wrought
by the earthquake. A few ingots toppled from the higher tiers, a
single piece of the rocky ceiling splintered off and crashed downward
to the floor, and the walls cracked, though they did not collapse.

There was but the single shock, no other followed to complete the
damage undertaken by the first. Werper, thrown to his length by the
suddenness and violence of the disturbance, staggered to his feet when
he found himself unhurt. Groping his way toward the far end of the
chamber, he sought the candle which Tarzan had left stuck in its own
wax upon the protruding end of an ingot.

By striking numerous matches the Belgian at last found what he sought,
and when, a moment later, the sickly rays relieved the Stygian darkness
about him, he breathed a nervous sigh of relief, for the impenetrable
gloom had accentuated the terrors of his situation.

As they became accustomed to the light the man turned his eyes toward
the door--his one thought now was of escape from this frightful
tomb--and as he did so he saw the body of the naked giant lying
stretched upon the floor just within the doorway. Werper drew back in
sudden fear of detection; but a second glance convinced him that the
Englishman was dead. From a great gash in the man's head a pool of
blood had collected upon the concrete floor.

Quickly, the Belgian leaped over the prostrate form of his erstwhile
host, and without a thought of succor for the man in whom, for aught he
knew, life still remained, he bolted for the passageway and safety.

But his renewed hopes were soon dashed. Just beyond the doorway he
found the passage completely clogged and choked by impenetrable masses
of shattered rock. Once more he turned and re-entered the treasure
vault. Taking the candle from its place he commenced a systematic
search of the apartment, nor had he gone far before he discovered
another door in the opposite end of the room, a door which gave upon
creaking hinges to the weight of his body. Beyond the door lay another
narrow passageway. Along this Werper made his way, ascending a flight
of stone steps to another corridor twenty feet above the level of the
first. The flickering candle lighted the way before him, and a moment
later he was thankful for the possession of this crude and antiquated
luminant, which, a few hours before he might h