fore the dead, fell headlong in the passage,
and with one loud cry gave up his life.

And this was the first man who died for little Ruth Bellenden's sake.

We swung about on our heels as the report rang out and fired a blazing
volley into the darkness of the cavern. What other men lingered there,
how many of the driven ghouls who haunted the labyrinth received that
hail of lead, I shall never know nor care to ask. Groans answered our
shots; there were cries of pain, the curses of the wounded, the
derisive laughter of those that escaped. But little by little the
sounds died away, echoing in other and distant galleries, or coming to
us as whispered voices, speaking from places remote, and leaving to us
at last a silence utter and profound.

We were masters of the bout and the engine was ours.

"Captain Nepeen," said I, "do you and three others go back to the
stairs-head and hold it until I come. If they are afraid to face us
here, they'll never face us at all. Why, look at it. Seven men out in
the light, as fair a target as a woman might ask for, and they show us
their heels. Go back and hold the gate, and I and those with me will
answer for the engine. Time afterwards to hunt the vermin out."

He took my order unwillingly, I could see. A greater devil for a fight
than that smooth-faced American sailor I shall never meet in all my
days. Keen as a hound after quarry, he would have hunted out the
vermin, I do believe, if the path had led down to the mouth of Hades
itself.

"You will not go alone, captain," cried he, "that's plain madness."

"I take two to my call," said I, "and leave you the rest."

"But what--aren't you afraid, man?"

"Afraid! Of whom?" said I. "Of an old man--but that's too far ahead.
I'll speak of it when I come up, captain. Perhaps it's only my own
idea. But it's good enough to go on with."

He had still something to say, and, looking first into the black
cavern, which we had filled with shot, and then down the stairs towards
the engine-room, he went on presently:

"You take a big risk and I hope you'll get out of it. How many do you
expect to find below?

"One," said I, quickly, "and he a friend. It's a strange story,
captain, and wonderful, too. But it will wait."

I was at the door of the engine-room before he could answer me, and
pulling back the leather curtain I put my own idea to the proof. Just
as forty hours ago, so now that gloomy cavern shimmered with the
crimson light which