you cannot find it,
then it can be forced--like a woman's love, Olfan. Surely you who are
so skilled in the winning of a bride need not seek my counsel as to the
opening of a door, for when I gave it but now upon the first of these
matters, you would not hearken, Olfan, but were melted by the sight of
tears that you should have kissed away."

Juanna heard and from that moment made up her mind that whatever
happened she had done with Soa. Nor was this wonderful, for few women
could have pardoned what she had suffered at her hands.

"Drive the spear into her till she speaks, comrade," said Olfan.

Then at the touch of steel Soa gave up mocking and told the secret of
the door.

CHAPTER XXXVI

HOW OTTER CAME BACK

After he had rested awhile at the bottom of the glacier, Otter set to
work to explore the cliff on the top of which he found himself, with
the view of descending it and hiding at its foot till nightfall, when
he hoped to find means of re-entering the city and putting himself in
communication with Olfan. Very soon, however, he discovered that if
he was to return at all, he must follow the same route by which he had
come.

Evidently the tunnel sloped upwards very sharply, for he was standing on
the brow of a precipice cut into three steps, which, taken together, may
have measured some three hundred feet in height, and, so far as he could
see, it was utterly impossible to descend any of these cliffs without
the aid of ropes. Nor could he continue his investigations over a wide
area, for about four hundred paces to the left of the opening to the
subterranean passage--whereof, by the way, he was very careful to note
the exact position--the mountain pushed out a snowy shoulder, with
declivities so precipitous that he dared not trust himself on them.

Then he tried the right-hand side, but with no better luck, for here
he was stopped by a yawning rift in the rock. Now Otter sat down and
considered the situation.

The day was still young, and he knew that it would be foolish to attempt
escape from the pool before dark. In front of him the mountain rose
steeply till, so far as he could judge, it reached a pass which lay some
two miles off, at the base of that main peak, on whose snows the priests
had watched the breaking of the dawn. Part of this declivity was covered
with blocks of green ice, but here and there appeared patches of earth,
on which grew stunted trees, shrubs, and even grass and flowers. Bein