b, a trusted guard, had been seen on
his way to the pits.

A miasmic odor of damp decay seemed to increase in strength the further
below the earth's surface he progressed. Now and then a water rat would
rustle across his path, its passage marked only by the rasp of claws on
rock. Damp stretches of slippery surface proved difficult to negotiate
and on several occasions he saved himself from falling only by a quick
movement of his feet. Now and then he would step into ankle-deep pools
of chill water, bringing an involuntary gasp to his lips.

At long last his feet found no ramp where one should have been and he
realized he now stood at the beginning of the deepest corridor beneath
the palace. For a long moment he stood there, his ears straining to
catch some sound of life. As from a great distance he caught the muffled
snores of sleeping men, the faint murmurings of troubled words from a
mind dreaming of the horrors to which it awakened after each sleep.

Grasping his spear tighter, Sitab inched his way cautiously along the
corridor until his ears told him he was standing between twin rows of
cells. From the belt of his robe he drew a small length of tinder-like
wood and from a pouch in the same belt came a small ball-like bit of
stone, its interior hollowed to hold a supply of moss in the center of
which glowed a single coal of fire. Drawing the perforated bit of wood
serving as a cork, Sitab let the bit of fire roll out onto the miniature
torch. It rested there, glowing redly as he breathed against it. When a
minute of this had gone by a tiny tongue of fire rose to life and within
seconds the torch was fully lighted, dispelling the ink-like gloom about
him.

On silent feet Sitab moved from door to door of the cells. At each
barred opening he let the rays of light seep into the tiny interior of
the room beyond while his eyes sought to identify the sleeping men.

Some he saw were hardly recognizable as human, so long had they lain
prisoner in this awful hole. Matted hair hung over faces so thin and
emaciated as hardly to be human at all. Others he saw were still in
excellent physical condition: these had been here only a little while.

But none was familiar to him until he was well down the first row. As he
peered into this particular cell, he saw a man lying asleep on the bare
stone platform which served this cell, as in others, as a crude bunk.
The sleeper's face was turned toward the wall, shadowed by a raised arm