the darkness, shuddering without apparent reason. Then I reflected
that nothing is dangerous to a man who faces death, and I laughed
aloud--then trembled at the sound of my own voice. Harry was in sound
sleep beside me; his regular breathing told of its depth.

Again I lay down, but I could not sleep. Some instinct, long
forgotten, quivered within me, telling me that we were no longer alone.
And soon my ear justified it.

At first it was not a sound, but the mere shadow of one. It was
rhythmic, low, beating like a pulse. What could it be? Again I sat
up, listening and peering into the darkness. And this time I was not
mistaken--there was a sound, rustling, sibilant.

Little by little it increased, or rather approached, until it sounded
but a few feet from me on every side, sinister and menacing. It was
the silent, suppressed breathing of something living--whether animal or
man--creeping ever nearer.

Then was the darkness doubly horrible. I sat paralyzed with my utter
helplessness, though fear, thank Heaven, did not strike me! I could
hear no footstep; no sound of any kind but that low, rushing breathing;
but it now was certain that whatever the thing was, it was not alone.

From every side I heard it--closer, closer--until finally I felt the
hot, fetid breath in my very face. My nerves quivered in disgust, not
far from terror.

I sprang to my feet with a desperate cry to Harry and swung toward him.

There was no answering sound, no rush of feet, nothing; but I felt my
throat gripped in monstrous, hairy fingers.

I tried to struggle, and immediately was crushed to the ground by the
overpowering weight of a score of soft, ill-smelling bodies.

The grasp on my throat tightened; my arms relaxed, my brain reeled, and
I knew no more.

Chapter VII.

THE FIGHT IN THE DARK.

I returned to consciousness with a sickening sensation of nausea and
unreality. Only my brain was alive; my entire body was numb and as
though paralyzed. Still darkness and silence, for all my senses told
me I might have been still in the spot where I had fallen.

Then I tried to move my arms, and found that my hands and feet were
firmly bound. I strained at the thongs, making some slight sound; and
immediately I heard a whisper but a few feet away:

"Are you awake, Paul?"

I was still half dazed, but I recognized Harry's voice, and I answered
simply: "Yes. Where are we?"

"The Lord knows! They carried us. You have