w, so loud was the thunder
from above. "And," he added, "I'm afraid he's not strong enough to
survive it, either!"

CHAPTER II

_The Man-Hunt_

When Phil Holmes started off to the water-hole, his head was full of
the earth-borer and the imminent descent. Now that the long-awaited
time had come, he was at fever-pitch to be off, and it did not take
him long to cover the mile of sandy waste. His thoughts were far
inside the earth as he dipped the jug into the clear cool water and
sloshed it full.

So the rope that snaked softly through the air and dropped in a loop
over his shoulders came as a stark surprise. Before he knew what was
happening it had slithered down over his arms and drawn taut just
above the elbows, and he was yanked powerfully backwards and almost
fell.

But he managed to keep his feet as he staggered backward, and turning
his head he saw the small dark figure of his aggressor some fifteen
feet away, keeping tight the slack.

Phil's surprise turned to sudden fury and he completely lost his head.
What he did was rash; mad; and yet, as it turned out, it was the only
thing that could have saved him. Instinctively, without hesitating
one second, and absolutely ignoring an excited command to stand still,
he squirmed face-on to his aggressor, lowered his head and charged.

The distance was short. Halfway across it, a gun barked, and he heard
the bullet crack into the water jug, which he was still holding in
front of himself. And even before the splintered fragments reached the
ground he had crashed into the firer.

He hit him with all the force of a tackling lineman, and they both
went down. The man grunted as the wind was jarred out of him, but he
wriggled like an eel and managed to worm aside and bring up his gun.

Then there was a desperate flurry of bodies in the coarse sand. Holmes
dived frantically for the gun hand and caught it; but, handicapped as
he was by the rope, he could not hold it. Slowly its muzzle bent
upward to firing position.

Desperately, he wrenched the arm upwards, in the direction it had been
straining to go, and the sudden unexpected jerk doubled the man's arm
and brought the weapon across his chest. For a moment there was a test
of strength as Phil lay chest to chest over his opponent, the gun
blocked between. Then the other grunted; squirmed violently--and there
was a muffled explosion.

A cry of pain cut the midnight air, and with insane strength Holmes'
ambusher fou