ets' nest than he immediately
withdrew and, turning, fled again in a new direction. But now
a hundred men were close upon his heels, laughing, shrieking, and
possibly cursing. He dodged hither and thither, distancing them for
several minutes until, at the bottom of a long runway that inclined
steeply downward from a higher level, he burst into a subterranean
apartment lighted by many flares.

In the center of the room was a pool of considerable size, the
level of the water being but a few inches below the floor. Those
behind the fleeing prince and his captive entered the chamber in
time to see Metak leap into the water with the girl and disappear
beneath the surface taking his captive with him, nor, though they
waited excitedly around the rim of the pool, did either of the two
again emerge.

When Smith-Oldwick turned to investigate his hiding place, his
hands, groping upon the rear wall, immediately came in contact with
the wooden panels of a door and a bolt such as that which secured
the door of the outer room. Cautiously and silently drawing the
wooden bar he pushed gently against the panel to find that the door
swung easily and noiselessly outward into utter darkness. Moving
carefully and feeling forward for each step he passed out of the
niche, closing the door behind him.

Peeling about, he discovered that he was in a narrow corridor which
he followed cautiously for a few yards to be brought up suddenly
by what appeared to be a ladder across the passageway. He felt of
the obstruction carefully with his hands until he was assured that
it was indeed a ladder and that a solid wall was just beyond it,
ending the corridor. Therefore, as he could not go forward and as
the ladder ended at the floor upon which he stood, and as he did
not care to retrace his steps, there was no alternative but to climb
upward, and this he did, his pistol ready in a side pocket of his
blouse.

He had ascended but two or three rungs when his head came suddenly
and painfully in contact with a hard surface above him. Groping
about with one hand over his head he discovered that the obstacle
seemed to be the covering to a trap door in the ceiling which,
with a little effort, he succeeded in raising a couple of inches,
revealing through the cracks the stars of a clear African night.

With a sigh of relief, but with unabated caution, he gently slid
the trapdoor to one side far enough to permit him to raise his
eyes above the level of the