out to the point
of the projecting rock and tremblingly lowered himself till he
hung downward as Branasko had done. He had just drawn a deep breath
preparatory to letting go his hold, when, chancing to look down, he saw
a long narrow barge slowly emerging from the cliff directly under him.
For an instant he was so much startled that he almost lost his grip
on the rock. He tried to climb back on the ledge, but his strength was
gone. He felt that he could not hold out till the boat had passed. Death
was before him, and a horrible one. The boat seemed to crawl. Everything
was a blur before his eyes. His fingers began to relax, and with a low
cry he fell.

Chapter X.

To Thorndyke the dark corridor seemed endless. The king's last words had
now a sinister meaning, and Bernardino's whispered warning filled him
with dread. "Keep your presence of mind," she urged; was it then, some
frightful mental ordeal he was about to pass through?

Presently they came to a door. Thorndyke heard his guide feeling for
the bolt and key-hole. The rattling of the keys sounded like a ghostly
threat in the empty corridors. The air was as damp as a fog, and the
stones were cold and slimy. After a moment the guard succeeded in
unlocking the door and roughly pushed the Englishman forward. The door
closed with a little puff, and Thorndyke felt about him for the guide;
but he was alone. For a moment there was no sound. With the closing
of the door it seemed to him that he was cut off from every living
creature. In the awful silence he could hear his own heart beating like
a drum.

"Stand where you are!" came in a hissing whisper from the darkness near
by, and then the invisible whisperer moved away, making a weird sound as
he slid his hand along a wall, till it died away in the distance.

A cold thrill ran over him. He was a brave man and feared no living man
or beast, but the superstitious fears of his childhood now came upon him
with redoubled force. For several minutes he did not stir; presently he
put out his hand to the door and his blood ran cold. There was no knob,
latch, or key-hole, and he could feel the soft padding into which the
door closed to keep out sound. Then he remembered the warning of the
princess, and strove with all his might to fight down his apprehensions.
"For your life keep your presence of mind," he repeated over and over,
but try as he would his terror over-powered him. He laughed out loud,
but in the dreadful sil