eathed, and would have fallen to the ground if
I had not supported him.

We started out then in search of water, moving slowly and cautiously.
But we found none, and soon Harry declared that he could go no further.
We sat down with our backs against the wall of the passage, still
breathing heavily and all but exhausted.

In that darkness and silence the minutes passed into hours. We talked
but little, and then only in whispers. Finally Harry fell into a
restless sleep, if it may be called that, and several times I dozed off
and was awakened by my head nodding against the stone wall.

At length, finding Harry awake, I urged him to his feet. His knee
barely supported his weight, but he gritted his teeth and told me to
lead on.

"We can wait--" I began; but he broke in savagely:

"No! I want to find her, that's all--and end it. Just one more
chance!"

We searched for an hour before we found the stream of water we sought.
After Harry had bathed his knee and drunk his fill he felt more fit,
and we pushed on more rapidly, but still quite at random.

We turned first one way, then another, in the never-ending labyrinth,
always in darkness and silence. We seemed to get nowhere; and I for
one was about to give up the disheartening task when suddenly a sound
smote our ears that caused us first to start violently, then stop and
gaze at each other in comprehension and eager surprise.

"The bell!" cried Harry. "They are being summoned to the great cavern!"

It was the same sound we had heard twice before; a sound as of a great,
deep-toned bell ringing sonorously throughout the passages and caverns
with a roar that was deafening. And it seemed to be close--quite close.

"It came from the left," said Harry; but I disagreed with him and was
so sure of myself that we started off to the right. The echoes of the
bell were still floating from wall to wall as we went rapidly forward.
I do not know what we expected to find, and the Lord knows what we
intended to do after we found it.

A short distance ahead we came to another passage, crossing at right
angles, broad and straight, and somehow familiar. As with one impulse
we took it, turning to the left, and then flattened ourselves back
against the wall as we saw a group of Incas passing at its farther end,
some two hundred yards away.

There we stood, motionless and scarcely breathing, while group after
group of the savages passed in the corridor ahead. Their number