iately stuck into it. The panel, if such
it was, seemed about an inch thick, and beyond it his finger
encountered nothing. Bradley crooked his finger upon the opposite side
of the panel and pulled toward him, steadily but with considerable
force. Suddenly the panel flew inward, nearly precipitating the man to
the floor. It was hinged at the bottom, and when lowered the outer
edge rested upon the perch, making a little platform parallel with the
floor of the room.

Beyond the opening was an utterly dark void. The Englishman leaned
through it and reached his arm as far as possible into the blackness
but touched nothing. Then he fumbled in his haversack for a match, a
few of which remained to him. When he struck it, An-Tak gave a cry of
terror. Bradley held the light far into the opening before him and in
its flickering rays saw the top of a ladder descending into a black
abyss below. How far down it extended he could not guess; but that he
should soon know definitely he was positive.

"You have found it! You have found the way out!" screamed An-Tak.
"Oh, Luata! And now I am too weak to go. Take me with you! Take me
with you!"

"Shut up!" admonished Bradley. "You will have the whole flock of birds
around our heads in a minute, and neither of us will escape. Be quiet,
and I'll go ahead. If I find a way out, I'll come back and help you,
if you'll promise not to try to eat me up again."

"I promise," cried An-Tak. "Oh, Luata! How could you blame me? I am
half crazed of hunger and long confinement and the horror of the
lizards and the rats and the constant waiting for death."

"I know," said Bradley simply. "I'm sorry for you, old top. Keep a
stiff upper lip." And he slipped through the opening, found the ladder
with his feet, closed the panel behind him, and started downward into
the darkness.

Below him rose more and more distinctly the sound of running water.
The air felt damp and cool. He could see nothing of his surroundings
and felt nothing but the smooth, worn sides and rungs of the ladder
down which he felt his way cautiously lest a broken rung or a misstep
should hurl him downward.

As he descended thus slowly, the ladder seemed interminable and the pit
bottomless, yet he realized when at last he reached the bottom that he
could not have descended more than fifty feet. The bottom of the
ladder rested on a narrow ledge paved with what felt like large round
stones, but what he knew from