of enemies who might discover us at any moment.

I drew her into the adjoining cave. Thence we made our way to the
mouth of the cave that had given me entrance to the cliff. Here I
reconnoitered for a mo-ment, and seeing the coast clear, ran swiftly
forth with Dian at my side. We dodged around the cliff-end, then
paused for an instant, listening. No sound reached our ears to
indicate that any had seen us, and we moved cautiously onward along the
way by which I had come.

As we went Dian told me that her captors had informed her how close I
had come in search of her--even to the Land of Awful Shadow--and how
one of Hooja's men who knew me had discovered me asleep and robbed me
of all my possessions. And then how Hooja had sent four others to find
me and take me prisoner. But these men, she said, had not yet
returned, or at least she had not heard of their return.

"Nor will you ever," I responded, "for they have gone to that place
whence none ever returns." I then related my adventure with these four.

We had come almost to the cliff-edge where Juag should be awaiting us
when we saw two men walking rapidly toward the same spot from another
direction. They did not see us, nor did they see Juag, whom I now
discovered hiding behind a low bush close to the verge of the precipice
which drops into the sea at this point. As quickly as possible,
without exposing our-selves too much to the enemy, we hastened forward
that we might reach Juag as quickly as they.

But they noticed him first and immediately charged him, for one of them
had been his guard, and they had both been sent to search for him, his
escape having been discovered between the time he left the cave and the
time when I reached it. Evidently they had wasted precious moments
looking for him in other portions of the mesa.

When I saw that the two of them were rushing him, I called out to
attract their attention to the fact that they had more than a single
man to cope with. They paused at the sound of my voice and looked
about.

When they discovered Dian and me they exchanged a few words, and one of
them continued toward Juag while the other turned upon us. As he came
nearer I saw that he carried in his hand one of my six-shooters, but he
was holding it by the barrel, evidently mistaking it for some sort of
warclub or tomahawk.

I could scarce refrain a grin when I thought of the wasted
possibilities of that deadly revolver in the hands of an untuto