99
XV. THE PURSUIT. 106
XVI. BESIEGED. 113
XVII. A CLOSE SHAVE. 120
XVIII. THE UNDERGROUND RIVER. 127
XIX. A DARING EXPEDITION. 135
XX. BY A HAIR'S BREADTH. 142
XXI. CUT OFF FROM THE OUTER WORLD. 150
XXII. AN UNWELCOME VISITOR. 158
XXIII. A WONDERFUL ESCAPE. 165
XXIV. SIR ARTHUR WAKES AT THE RIGHT TIME. 172
XXV. THE JOURNEY ON THE LAKE. 179
XXVI. THE ISLE OF SKELETONS. 187
XXVII. ALL HOPE VANISHES. 195
XXVIII. A DESPERATE FIGHT. 203
XXIX. GUY SAVES SIR ARTHUR. 210
XXX. A STRANGE DISCOVERY. 217
XXXI. A TERRIBLE BLUNDER. 224
XXXII. GOOD-BY TO THE LAKE. 232
XXXIII. A TERRIBLE RIDE. 239
XXXIV. MORE MISERY. 247
XXXV. BILDAD DRINKS NEW LIFE. 255
XXXVI. BILDAD TURNS CANNIBAL. 262
XXXVII. THE END OF THE CAVERN. 270
XXXVIII. CAPTAIN BECKER LOSES A WAGER. 278
XXXIX. CONCLUSION. 285

------------------------------------------------------------------------

THE RIVER OF DARKNESS.

PROLOGUE.

It was November in London. The great city was buried under a dank,
yellow fog. Traffic was temporarily checked; foot passengers groped
their way by the light of the street lamps, and the hoarse shouts of the
link boys running before cabs and carriages with blazing torches rang at
intervals above the muffled rumble of countless wheels.

In the coffee-room of a quiet hotel on the Strand a young man stands by
the window, looking pensively out on the misty street. He is quite
young, with light hair that falls half over his forehead, and a
drooping, golden mustache, and in rather startling contrast to these a
deep-bronzed com