ready, I see.
They don't monkey long when they've got a thing to do. I'd advise you
not to be too stubborn when they get you to headquarters; it may go
easier with you. I'm not so damned bad, young feller. It's just the
business I'm in--and the company."

King felt a thrill of real regard for the rascal. He nodded his thanks
and tried to smile. The fellow grinned and slapped him on the shoulder,
unobserved by the others. In another moment his guardianship was
transferred; he was being hurried across the cellar toward an open
doorway. Down a few stone steps he was led by the bearded crew, and then
pushed through a hole in what appeared to be a heavy brick wall. He
realised at once where he was. The gurgle of running water, the odor of
foul airs came up to him. It was the great sewer that ran from the hills
through the heart of the city, flushed continuously by a diverted
mountain stream that swept down from above.

He was wading in cold water over a slippery bottom, tightly held by two
men, the third going ahead with the lantern. Always ahead loomed the
black, opaque circle which never came nearer, never grew smaller. It was
the ever receding wall of darkness.

He did not know how long they traversed the chill sewer in this fashion.
In time, however, the water got deeper; rats began to scurry along the
sides of the circle or to swim frantically on in front of the
disturbers. The smells were sickening, overpowering. Only excitement,
curiosity, youth--whatever you may care to term it-kept him up and
going. The everlasting glory of youth never ends until old age has
provided the surfeit of knowledge; the strife to see ahead, to find out
what is to be, to know,--that is youth. Youth dies when curiosity ends.
The emotion is even stronger than the dread of what may lie beyond in
the pallid sea of uncertainty.

His bones were chilled and creaking with fatigue. He was remorselessly
hungry. There was water, but he could not drink it.

At last the strange journey ended. They came to a niche in the slimy
wall. Up into this the men climbed, dragging him after them. The man
above was cautiously tapping on what appeared to be solid masonry. To
King's surprise a section of the wall suddenly opened before them. He
was seized from above by strong hands and literally jerked through the
hole, his companions following. Up narrow steps, through a sour-smelling
passage and--then, into a long, dimly lighted room, in the centre of
which