mb of the maupei tree that was within a yard or two of the spot where
Kaipi and I stood waiting disappeared in the night, and the scratching
of Holman's shoes high above our heads came down to us through the
intense silence and proved that he was holding his position with
difficulty.

A small piece of shale hit me on the shoulder after a long wait, and I
turned my face upward.

"Verslun!" breathed the strained voice of the youngster. "Are you
there?"

"Well?" I asked.

"H'sh!" he murmured. "We are right near the spot, Verslun. If Kaipi
climbs up on your shoulders to this place I think the two of us could
pull you up. Are you willing?"

"Come on, Kaipi," I whispered, and the Fijian climbed nimbly upon me and
moved up into the void above.

"Now, Verslun," muttered Holman. "Reach up till we get a grip of your
wrists. Are you ready? Well, try hard, man! Think of those two helpless
girls and dig your toes in!"

I didn't need any reminder concerning the position of the two sisters
as I stood on tiptoe and scratched with my fingers at the crumbling
ledge upon which Holman and the Fijian crouched. The predicament of
Edith Herndon, and not fears for my own safety, made me scratch madly
for a foothold as I swung above the shelf I left. Kaipi and Holman
tugged till every muscle in my arms shrieked out against the way they
were being handled. But I was going up. I "chinned" the crumbling layer
of rock upon which my fingers had a perilous grip, laid my chest across
the shelf and wriggled into safety.

"That's good," whispered Holman. "Don't puff so hard, man! We're too
close to take any chances."

I got upon my hands and knees and followed him along the narrow pathway.
Over a thousand obstructions we crawled like three rock snakes, till
finally the boy halted and turned toward me.

"See the streak of light through that split in the rock?" he whispered.
"Look in front of you! Well, they're inside."

The split in the rock to which Holman had pointed was a perpendicular
crevice about four feet in length, but possessing only a width of six
inches. It separated two rock masses that were fully eighteen inches
thick, and as we wriggled noiselessly toward it we saw that it gave us a
glimpse of the interior of a huge cavern, the part of which that was
just inside our point of observation being illuminated by a swinging
ship's lamp which hung by a rope that dropped from the vaulted dome.

The lamp swung directly in front of th