the door, when I cried out for water.... We shall not die in
Aten's hands, Taia! See--I have a sword. With luck--"

There was a warmer quality than reverence in Taia's eyes when she
spoke--though she did not realize it. "Then come quickly, O Stranger!"
she said. "The guard has been changed once; the time for sacrifice
nears!"

Craig nodded. Only a sword was in his hand; his automatic, he found,
had been taken from him while he lay unconscious in the Temple,
probably desired as a curious heathen object. The discovery, made when
he had cut his bonds, had been a serious blow to his hopes: with a
sword, he was only a human being, but with a gun he might have passed
as supernatural to this primitive race.

But it could not be helped. He peered to each side, gestured to the
girl, and together they started up the sloping incline of the
corridor.

* * * * *

The heat of the earth was great, down where they were, and it made the
passageway muggy and odorous. Fitful shadows were flung by widely
separated oil lamps as they pressed forward--grotesque splotches of
black that half a dozen times tightened the American's grasp on his
sword, sure that a guard had come upon them. He knew that their margin
of time in which to effect escape was small, and he gradually
quickened their pace, sacrificing caution for speed. Taia's hand was
in his left; and he had just turned to her to ask if they were taking
the best course up to the surface, when suddenly she stopped short.

"Hearken!" she whispered, frightened.

Wes craned his ears. For a moment there was nothing but silence. Then
a faint sound trembled through the shadows. It could only have been
that of many approaching footsteps.

"The priests!" Taia murmured, tightening her grip on his hand. "They
come!"

There was a sharp bend in the corridor fifty feet ahead; from behind
it a growing clatter of sandals echoed through the rock-walled
passageway. Craig paused, irresolute. "Are we blocked, ahead?" he
asked.

"Yes," her low voice hurriedly told him. "But we can go back, cross
the bridge of the chasm and go up the other side. But others may be
there, and--"

A shout cut her words short. Dim figures appeared around the bend in
the passage. They were discovered!

Wes Craig's face set grimly; he worked his hand into a good grip on
the sword handle, looked levelly at the gathering crowd ahead and
said:

"I think it best to face them now, Taia. I