lace of refuge, had come at another angle, and there on a terrace
the two had met.

They were not more than three feet apart. Ned had put his machete back
in his belt that he might climb with more ease, but he hit out at once
with his clenched right hand. The blow took the Mexican full between the
eyes and toppling over backward he dropped the lantern. Then he slid on
the narrow terrace and with an instinctive cry of terror fell. Ned was
seized with horror and took a hasty glance downward. He was relieved
when he saw that the man, grasping at projections and outgrowing
vegetation, was sliding rather than falling, and would not be hurt
seriously.

He turned to his own case. There lay the lantern on the stone, still
glowing. Below rose the tumult, men coming to his side of the pyramid,
drawn by his cry. He could no longer reach the top of the pyramid
without being seen, but he knew another way. He snatched up the lantern,
tucked it under his serape and made for the opening which he had noticed
in the side of the pyramid at his first ascent. It was scarcely ten feet
away, and he boldly stepped in, a thing that he would never have dared
to do had it not been for the happy chance of the lantern.

His foot rested on solid stone, and he stood wholly in the dark. Yet the
uproar came clearly to his ears. It was a certainty now that more
soldiers would ascend the pyramid looking for him, but he believed that
ignorance and superstition would keep them from entering it.

The air that came to his nostrils out of the unknown dark was cold and
clean, but he did not yet dare to take out his lantern. He felt
cautiously in front of him with one foot and touched a stone step below.
He also touched narrow walls with his outstretched hand. He descended to
the step, and then, feeling sure that the light of his lantern could not
be seen from without, he took it from under his serape and held it as
far in front of him as he could. A narrow flight of stone steps led
onward and downward further than he could see, and, driven by imminent
necessity, he walked boldly down them.

The way was rough with the decay of time from which stone itself cannot
escape, but he always steadied himself with one hand against the wall.
The stone was very cold and Ned had the feeling that he was in a tomb.
Once more he had that overwhelming sense of old, old things, of things
as old as Egypt. At another time, despite every effort of reason, he
would have thrill