ncy of heavy clay.

"Stuck?" gasped Payne.

"No!" Higgins began to dig at the stuff with his hands.

"Cheer up!" he panted. "Get to bank--trouble's over."

They literally dug themselves forward for the rest of the way, the
hideousness of their situation relieved only by the bank before their
eyes and the hope of high ground held out by it. With the last bit of
energy in them they freed themselves from the mud's suction and
painfully crawled up the bank.

"Made it!" said Higgins, dropping flat on his face.

Payne raised himself on all fours and looked round through mud-caked
eyes. And then he began to laugh in a way that brought Higgins' head
up with a start. The high ground of the bank was a strip perhaps ten
feet in width. Beyond it as far as they could see was a sea of mud
similar to that which they had just wallowed through.

XIV

"We'll rest first, then we'll eat." Payne had instantly recovered
control of himself. He let his weary body sink inert upon the ground,
his face pillowed upon folded arms. Higgins followed his example.
They were not insensible to the gravity of their situation. On the
contrary it was their very realization of the ghastly nature of the
trap into which they had floundered that prompted them to relax and lie
like dead while their bodies recovered from the strain of fighting
through the mud of the gully. Not for them the amateurish fault of
going into a panic. Their situation was bad. It was very bad.
Therefore the pair relaxed after the manner of tired men seeking
complete rest, and so successful was Higgins, and so severe the
exhaustion of his thick body, that presently he fell asleep.

Roger did not sleep. Neither did he worry. He did not even allow
himself to contemplate the dire possibilities of the situation. He did
not think; he refused to allow himself to think. He rested. But
continuously in his ears there seemed to sound a mocking whisper, as
faint as the rustle of wind in the saw grass.

"Devil's Playground, Devil's Playground! How d'you like it?"

Strength returned to his young body with the invincible resiliency of
youth. He felt the strain ease in his tired limbs, felt the arteries
resume their easy functioning and settled himself for more of a rest.
At last he stretched himself slowly, luxuriously upon the ground, as an
athlete, rejoicing in the strength of his body, might stretch himself
before entering a terrific contest. Slowly he rolled