of some boulder and, after pulling her up safely
after me, let her down again on the other side. Then I returned to see
that Harry got over safely, and often he made it barely by inches,
while flying spears struck the rock on every side.

It is a wonder to me now that I was able even to stand, after my
experience on the spiral stairway in the column. The soles of my feet
and the palms of my hands were baked black as the Incas themselves.
Blisters covered my body from head to foot, swelling, indescribably
painful.

Every step I took made me clench my teeth to keep from sinking in a
faint to the ground; I expected always that the next would be my
last--but somehow I struggled onward. It was the thought of Desiree, I
think, that held me up, and Harry.

Suddenly a shout came from Harry that the Incas had abandoned the
pursuit. It struck me almost as a matter of indifference; nor was I
affected when almost immediately afterward he called that he had been
mistaken and that they had rushed forward with renewed fury and in
greater numbers.

"It is only a matter of time now," I said to Desiree, and she nodded.

Still we went forward. The land had carried us straight away from the
cavern, without a turn. Its walls were the roughest I had seen, and
often a boulder which lay across our path presented a serrated face
that looked as though it had but just been broken from the wall above.
Still the stone was comparatively soft--time had not yet worked its
leveling finger on the surfaces that surrounded us.

We were standing on one of these boulders when Harry came running
toward us.

"They're stopped," he cried gleefully, "at least for a little. A piece
of rock as big as a house gently slid from above onto their precious
heads. It may have blocked them off completely."

We hurried forward then; Harry helped Desiree, while I painfully
brought up the rear. At every few steps they were forced to halt and
wait for me, though I did my utmost to keep up with them. Harry had
taken my spear that I might have both hands to help me over the rocks.

Climbing, sliding, jumping, we left the Incas behind; no sound came
from the rear. I began to think that they had really been completely
shut off, and several times opened my mouth to call to Harry to ask him
if it would not be safe to halt; for every movement I made was torture.
But each time I choked back the cry; he thought it was necessary to go
on and I followed.

This la