y waiting here and meeting these fellows.
From the noise out there there must be a dozen of them. Come," he
said, "you go first and I will follow."

As the two turned back from the alcove they witnessed an entirely
different scene from that upon which they had turned their backs
but a moment or two before. Stretched on the floor and apparently
lifeless lay the body of the black slave, while the two prisoners
had vanished completely.

Chapter XXIII

The Flight from Xuja

As Metak bore Bertha Kircher toward the edge of the pool, the girl
at first had no conception of the deed he contemplated but when, as
they approached the edge, he did not lessen his speed she guessed
the frightful truth. As he leaped head foremost with her into the
water, she closed her eyes and breathed a silent prayer, for she
was confident that the maniac had no other purpose than to drown
himself and her. And yet, so potent is the first law of nature that
even in the face of certain death, as she surely believed herself,
she clung tenaciously to life, and while she struggled to free
herself from the powerful clutches of the madman, she held her
breath against the final moment when the asphyxiating waters must
inevitably flood her lungs.

Through the frightful ordeal she maintained absolute control of
her senses so that, after the first plunge, she was aware that the
man was swimming with her beneath the surface. He took perhaps not
more than a dozen strokes directly toward the end wall of the pool
and then he arose; and once again she knew that her head was above
the surface. She opened her eyes to see that they were in a corridor
dimly lighted by gratings set in its roof--a winding corridor,
water filled from wall to wall.

Along this the man was swimming with easy powerful strokes, at the
same time holding her chin above the water. For ten minutes he swam
thus without stopping and the girl heard him speak to her, though
she could not understand what he said, as he evidently immediately
realized, for, half floating, he shifted his hold upon her so that
he could touch her nose and mouth with the fingers of one hand. She
grasped what he meant and immediately took a deep breath, whereat
he dove quickly beneath the surface pulling her down with him and
again for a dozen strokes or more he swam thus wholly submerged.

When they again came to the surface, Bertha Kircher saw that they
were in a large lagoon and that the bright stars wer