aining two, both severely wounded, flung themselves upon each
other with such a maniacal intensity of fury as was truly awful to see.
Finally, one of the monsters succeeded in getting a firm grip upon the
throat of the other, and hung on, despite the frantic struggles of the
other to get clear. For perhaps two full minutes the commotion in the
water was positively terrific; then it rapidly decreased until, probably
quite exhausted by the intensity of their prolonged efforts, they lay
practically still upon the surface of the water, their only signs of
life being an occasional slight twist of the body on the part of one or
the other of them. Such an opportunity was much too good to be missed,
and, raising his rifle, Escombe was lucky enough to shoot both the
monsters dead by a couple of rapid, well-directed shots through the
head. The two carcasses immediately began to sink; but before they
vanished completely out of sight, one of the cutter's crew, by means of
a lucky cast, succeeded in hooking one of the defunct saurians with the
great fish hook; and by this means the monster was eventually landed,
with some difficulty, at the spot originally chosen for the purpose.
Thus terminated the great plesiosaurus hunt, after nearly three hours of
the most exciting work that Escombe had ever enjoyed.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

HUANACOCHA THE PLOTTER.

About a fortnight after Escombe's destruction of the plesiosauri, it
pleased Huanacocha, the late chief of the Council of Seven, to entertain
a small but select party of his especial friends at a banquet, which he
gave in his house, situate on the borders of the lake, the grounds of
which adjoined those of the Virgins of the Sun, which, in turn, were
contiguous to those of the royal palace.

Huanacocha was probably the most wealthy man in the City of the Sun,
next to the Inca himself; for he had held the position of chief of the
Council of Seven for nearly a quarter of a century, and previous to the
appearance of Escombe upon the scene the portion of the national revenue
that would otherwise have gone into the coffers of the sovereign had
always been awarded to the Council of Seven; while, Huanacocha being not
only an astute but also an utterly unscrupulous man, of exceptionally
strong and overbearing character, the larger portion of this award had
regularly found its way, by various devious channels, into his own
private treasure chest. He was consequently well able to offer