they thought they
were safe," he said.

"Why don't they open the door?" asked Conan.

"They are looking at us through the Eye," answered Techotl. "They are
puzzled at the sight of you." He lifted his voice and called: "Open the
door, Xecelan! It is I, Techotl, with friends from the great world
beyond the forest!--They will open," he assured his allies.

"They'd better do it in a hurry, then," said Conan grimly. "I hear
something crawling along the floor beyond the hall."

Techotl went ashy again and attacked the door with his fists, screaming:
"Open, you fools, open! The Crawler is at our heels!"

Even as he beat and shouted, the great bronze door swung noiselessly
back, revealing a heavy chain across the entrance, over which
spear-heads bristled and fierce countenances regarded them intently for
an instant. Then the chain was dropped and Techotl grasped the arms of
his friends in a nervous frenzy and fairly dragged them over the
threshold. A glance over his shoulder just as the door was closing
showed Conan the long dim vista of the hall, and dimly framed at the
other end an ophidian shape that writhed slowly and painfully into view,
flowing in a dull-hued length from a chamber door, its hideous
blood-stained head wagging drunkenly. Then the closing door shut off the
view.

Inside the square chamber into which they had come heavy bolts were
drawn across the door, and the chain locked into place. The door was
made to stand the battering of a siege. Four men stood on guard, of the
same lank-haired, dark-skinned breed as Techotl, with spears in their
hands and swords at their hips. In the wall near the door there was a
complicated contrivance of mirrors which Conan guessed was the Eye
Techotl had mentioned, so arranged that a narrow, crystal-paned slot in
the wall could be looked through from within without being discernible
from without. The four guardsmen stared at the strangers with wonder,
but asked no question, nor did Techotl vouchsafe any information. He
moved with easy confidence now, as if he had shed his cloak of
indecision and fear the instant he crossed the threshold.

"Come!" he urged his new-found friends, but Conan glanced toward the
door.

"What about those fellows who were following us? Won't they try to storm
that door?"

Techotl shook his head.

"They know they cannot break down the Door of the Eagle. They will flee
back to Xotalanc, with their crawling fiend. Come! I will take you to
the