into
the end of the passage.

* * * * *

I crouched there, panting. It was beastly cold, and the dampness
struck into my bones. I shivered, then laughed grimly. I wouldn't
shiver long. When the Ferret came to and revealed that Eric Bolton was
around, there wouldn't be a stone left unturned till I was found.
Those birds had good cause to want me rubbed out.

Already I could hear faint shouts from without. The chase was on. I
was caught, right enough. Trapped like any rat.

I felt around me in the darkness and my hand lighted on a round stone.
It just fitted my fist. Well, I'd get one of them, anyway, when they
found me. Cold comfort in that, but I didn't feel like giving in
tamely.

Footsteps sounded out at the tunnel end. So soon! I gripped my rock
tightly, and waited.

But--it sounded like only one man. I drew myself together. Maybe I had
a chance. A dim glow showed where the passage curved, then a disk of
light flashed on the wall and flitted about. The fool!

The steps came on, slowly, stumblingly. The disk of light grew
smaller as its source drew nearer. Then he was around the corner,
bulked for a moment against his own light as it was reflected from the
wet wall. That moment was enough! The stone left my hand with all the
force I possessed. It went straight to its mark: a sickening thud told
me that. The form dropped, and the flashlight clinked on the rocks.

I listened. Still the shouts from without, but no steps inside. I was
safe for a time. But the searcher would surely be missed, and others
would come looking for him. I had only one chance. I shrugged my
shoulders. I couldn't lose anything. If I stayed here my goose was
cooked.

By the light of the flashlight I examined my quarry. A renegade
Frenchman, apparently. A private. In a trice I had his uniform on me
and had twisted my features to match his. Little did I think when I
acted under the Klieg lights that the fate of two continents would
some day depend on this gift of mine.

He stirred; groaned. I hesitated. Then--well, I couldn't chance his
crawling out. His ray-tube was newly charged. I left a heap of ashes
there as I walked away....

* * * * *

I was outside the cave. I darted a glance around. My refuge was not
the only hole in sheer rock; it was literally honeycombed. From one,
then another of the cavern mouths a soldier emerged. Each strode
across the uneven, rocky plain t