silent, waiting,
apparently, for nothing.

I, also, remained motionless, watching them in dull curiosity. There
was little danger of being seen; for, aside from the darkness of my
corner, which probably would have been no hindrance to them, a
projecting ledge partly screened my body from view.

The wait was not a long one, and when it ended things happened with so
startling a suddenness that I scarcely grasped the details.

There was a loud splash in the water like that I had heard before, a
swift ripple on the surface of the lake, and simultaneously the two
Indians lunged with their spears, which flew to their mark with deadly
accuracy. I had not before noticed the thongs, one end of which was
fastened to the shaft of the spear and the other about the waist of the
savage.

There followed a battle royal. Whatever the thing was that had felt
the spears, it certainly lost no time in showing its resentment. It
thrashed the water into furious waves until I momentarily expected the
raft to be swamped.

One Inca stood on the farther edge of the craft desperately plying an
oar; the other tugged lustily at the spear-thongs. I could see a
black, twisting form leap from the water directly toward the raft, and
the oarsman barely drew from under before it fell. It struck the
corner of the raft, which tipped perilously.

That appeared to have been a final effort, for there the battle ended.
The oarsman made quickly for the shore, paddling with remarkable
dexterity and swiftness, while the other stood braced, holding firmly
to the spear-thongs. Another minute and they had leaped upon the
ledge, drawing the raft after them, and, by tugging together on the
lines, had landed their victim of the deep.

It appeared to be a large black fish of a shape I had never before
seen. But it claimed little of my attention; my eye was on the two
spears which had been drawn from the still quivering body and which now
lay on the ground well away from the water's edge, while the two Incas
were dragging their catch toward the mouth of the passage leading from
the cavern.

I wanted those spears. I did not stop to ask myself what I intended to
do with them; if I had I would probably have been hard put to it for an
answer. But I wanted them, and I sat in my dark corner gazing at them
with greedy eyes.

The Incas had disappeared in the passage.

Finally I rose and began to search for an exit from the recess in which
I had hidden mys