d
looking down through a hole in the broken pavement. Then he knelt and
peered long and eagerly into it.

"Look here, friend," he called. "How does one get into that place?"

Don Jorge came and looked into the aperture. "It is one of the rooms
of the fortress," he said. "But--_caramba_! I know not how it may be
reached."

"The passageways?"

"Caved--all of them."

"But--you are a mighty husky fellow; and I am not weak. Suppose we try
lifting one of these flags."

"_Na_, _senor_, as well try the tunnels! But, why?"

Hitt did not answer. But, bidding Don Jorge follow, he sought the
fallen entrance to the old fortress, and plunged into the dark passage
that led off from it into the thick gloom. Groping his way down a
long, damp corridor, he came to a point where three narrower,
brick-lined tunnels branched off, one of them dipping into the earth
at a sharp angle. He struck a match, and then started down this,
followed by the wondering Don Jorge.

A thousand bats, hideous denizens of these black tunnels, flouted
their faces and disputed their progress. Don Jorge slapped wildly at
them, and cursed low. Hitt took up a long club and struck savagely
about him. On they stumbled, until the match flickered out, and they
were left in Stygian blackness, with the imps of darkness whirring
madly about them. Hitt struck another match, and plunged ahead.

At length they found the way blocked by a mass of rubbish which had
fallen from the roof. Hitt studied it for a moment, then climbed upon
it and, by the aid of the feeble light from his matches, peered into
the foul blackness beyond.

"Come," he said, preparing to proceed.

"_Na, amigo!_ Not I!" exclaimed Don Jorge. His Latin soul had
revolted.

"Then wait for me here," said Hitt, pushing himself through the narrow
aperture at the top of the rubbish, and fighting the horde of
terrified bats.

A few minutes later he returned, covered with slime, and scratched and
bleeding. "All right," he muttered. "Now let's get out of this
miserable hole!"

Out in the sunlight once more, Hitt sought to remove the stains from
his clothes, meanwhile bidding Don Jorge attend well to his words.

"You swim, eh?"

"Yes."

"Then do you come to the beach to-night to bathe, down across from the
yacht. And, listen well: you would do much for the little Carmen, no?
And for your friend Jose? Very good. You will swim out to the yacht at
seven to-night, with your clothes in a bundle on your