I.

THE BEGINNING OF THE END.

Neither Harry nor I spoke; our eyes were concentrated on the scene
before us, trying to comprehend its meaning.

It was something indefinable in Desiree's attitude that told me the
truth--what, I cannot tell. Her profile was toward us; it could not
have been her eyes or any expression of her face; but there was a
tenseness about her pose, a stiffening of the muscles of her body, an
air of lofty scorn and supreme triumph coming somehow from every line
of her motionless figure, that flashed certainty into my brain.

And on the instant I turned to Harry.

"Follow me," I whispered; and he must have read the force of my
knowledge in my eyes, for he obeyed without a word. Back down the
passage we ran, halting at its end. Harry opened his lips to speak,
but I took the words from his mouth; seconds were precious.

"They have fired the column--you remember. Follow me; keep your spear
ready; not a sound, if you love her."

I saw that he understood, and saw too, by the expression that shot into
his face, that it would go ill with any Incas who tried to stop us then.

We rushed forward side by side, guessing at our way, seeking the
entrance to the tunnel that led to the foot of the column. A prayer
was on my lips that we might not be too late; Harry's lips were
compressed together tightly as a vise. Death we did not fear, even for
Desiree; but we remembered the horror of our own experience on the top
of that column, and shuddered as we ran.

As I have said, we had entered the great cavern at a point almost
directly opposite the alcove, and therefore at a distance from the
entrance we sought. It was necessary to half encircle the cavern, and
the passages were so often crossed by other passages that many times we
had to guess at the proper road.

But not for an instant did we hesitate; we flew rather than ran. I
felt within me the strength and resolve of ten men, and I knew then
that there was something I must do and would do before I died, though a
thousand devils stood in my way.

I do not know what led us; whether a remorseful Providence, who
suddenly decided that we had been played with long enough, or the mere
animal instinct of direction, or blind luck. But so fast did we go
that it seemed to me we had left the great cavern scarcely a minute
behind us when I suddenly saw the steps of a steep stairway leading
down from an opening on our right.

How my heart leaped then! Har