rested his weight upon his hands, one upon either side
of the Wieroo's body, his right hand upon the hilt of the spare sword
lying at the left of Him Who Speaks for Luata.

"This then is the secret of both life and death," he whispered, and at
the same instant he grasped the Wieroo by the right wrist and with his
own right hand swung the extra blade in a sudden vicious blow against
the creature's neck before the thing could give even a single cry of
alarm; then without waiting an instant Bradley leaped past the dead god
and vanished behind the hides that had hidden the girl.

Wide-eyed and panting the girl seized his arm. "Oh, what have you
done?" she cried. "He Who Speaks for Luata will be avenged by Luata.
Now indeed must you die. There is no escape, for even though we
reached my own country Luata can find you out."

"Bosh!" exclaimed Bradley, and then: "But you were going to knife him
yourself."

"Then I alone should have died," she replied.

Bradley scratched his head. "Neither of us is going to die," he said;
"at least not at the hands of any god. If we don't get out of here
though, we'll die right enough. Can you find your way back to the room
where I first came upon you in the temple?"

"I know the way," replied the girl; "but I doubt if we can go back
without being seen. I came hither because I only met Wieroos who knew
that I am supposed now to be in the temple; but you could go elsewhere
without being discovered."

Bradley's ingenuity had come up against a stone wall. There seemed no
possibility of escape. He looked about him. They were in a small room
where lay a litter of rubbish--torn bits of cloth, old hides, pieces of
fiber rope. In the center of the room was a cylindrical shaft with an
opening in its face. Bradley knew it for what it was. Here the
arch-fiend dragged his victims and cast their bodies into the river of
death far below. The floor about the opening in the shaft and the
sides of the shaft were clotted thick with a dried, dark brown
substance that the Englishman knew had once been blood. The place had
the appearance of having been a veritable shambles. An odor of
decaying flesh permeated the air.

The Englishman crossed to the shaft and peered into the opening. All
below was dark as pitch; but at the bottom he knew was the river.
Suddenly an inspiration and a bold scheme leaped to his mind. Turning
quickly he hunted about the room until he found what he sought--a