knew that he intended to seize the first opportunity to
attack, and that opportunity was at hand. Behind the bobbing lamp that
was approaching us by an irregular trail, as if Soma was winding in and
out amidst stone supports similar to the one that sheltered us, was the
brute who held us in his grip, and after the events we had witnessed it
seemed impossible to reconcile his actions with anything that smacked of
decency or honesty.

[Illustration: "Behind the bobbing lamp was the brute who held us in
his grip."]

I attempted to drop on my knees at that minute, but the moment was
disastrous to the ambush which we had planned. As I moved my hand
forward I dislodged a skull that was evidently resting upon a shelf
somewhat higher than the one before us. With a noise that appeared
terrific in that place, the object crashed down upon the stone, and the
bobbing lantern halted about fifteen paces in front of us.

Leith broke the silence that followed. "What was that?" he asked.

"A bat," answered Soma.

"I don't think so," droned Leith. "Lift up the light."

Soma raised the lantern high above his head, and as he did so Holman
fired.

The echoes were terrific. High in the vaulted roof of the place echoes
answered each other with the sharp reports of Maxims, and the thick air
shivered.

Leith's voice roared an order. "Put out the light!"

Soma immediately crashed the lantern upon the ground, and I heard Holman
groan.

"I missed him!" he whispered. "Move along a little, Verslun; they've got
a line on our position."

We didn't move a minute too soon. Half a dozen shots broke out from the
spot where the light of the lantern had been suddenly quenched, and we
fired twice and shifted ground the moment we pulled the triggers.

But the opposition guessed the direction of our sidestep. A bullet
lifted my hat into the darkness, and, as I scrambled away, a hand
touched my thigh and was immediately taken away.

I felt Holman's body on the other side, and then, clubbing the big Colt,
I drove it down through the darkness at a point that my imagination
suggested would be the most likely place to find the head of the
stranger whose hand touched my thigh. The blow missed, and as I made a
kangaroo-like jump sideways, a spurt of flame blazed out within a yard
of my face.

I fired immediately, and the soft _plop_ of a body settling into the dry
dust upon the floor convinced me that I had settled one of our enemies.

For about t