the
haunted hollow.

Unbelieving, I rubbed my eyes; then leaped to the very brim of the bowl.

A lark had risen from the roof of one of the shattered heaps and had
flown caroling up into the shadowy sky.

A flock of the little willow warblers flung themselves across the
valley, scolding and gossiping; a hare sat upright in the middle of the
ancient roadway.

The valley itself lay serenely under the ambering light, smiling,
peaceful--emptied of horror!

I dropped over the side, walked cautiously down the road up which but
an hour or so before we had struggled so desperately; paced farther and
farther with an increasing confidence and a growing wonder.

Gone was that soul of loneliness; vanished the whirlpool of despair that
had striven to drag us down to death.

The bowl was nothing but a quiet, smiling lovely little hollow in the
hills. I looked back. Even the ruins had lost their sinister shape; were
time-worn, crumbling piles--nothing more.

I saw Ruth and Drake run out upon the ledge and beckon me; made my way
back to them, running.

"It's all right," I shouted. "The place is all right."

I stumbled up the side; joined them.

"It's empty," I cried. "Get Martin and Chiu-Ming quick! While the way's
open--"

A rifle-shot rang out above us; another and another. From the portal
scampered Chiu-Ming, his robe tucked up about his knees.

"They come!" he gasped. "They come!"

There was a flashing of spears high up the winding mountain path. Down
it was pouring an avalanche of men. I caught the glint of helmets and
corselets. Those in the van were mounted, galloping two abreast upon
sure-footed mountain ponies. Their short swords, lifted high, flickered.

After the horsemen swarmed foot soldiers, a forest of shining points and
dully gleaming pikes above them. Clearly to us came their battlecries.

Again Ventnor's rifle cracked. One of the foremost riders went down;
another stumbled over him, fell. The rush was checked for an instant,
milling upon the road.

"Dick," I cried, "rush Ruth over to the tunnel mouth. We'll follow. We
can hold them there. I'll get Martin. Chiu-Ming, after the pony, quick."

I pushed the two over the rim of the hollow. Side by side the Chinaman
and I ran back through the gateway. I pointed to the animal and rushed
back into the fortress.

"Quick, Mart!" I shouted up the shattered stairway. "We can get through
the hollow. Ruth and Drake are on their way to the break we came
thro