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Show ""From Hie "TTruTM.-ouT luTlsTTTp. i nearly liroke my Deck in the opening last niht account of coming down the rope so sudden with the protessoi and when 1 told Miss Betty she saui it was u gift from 'Eaven and we musi come back, which we did, your lud ship." "Do you mean to say," asked Hugh, "that there's a passage down there and Miss Betty is outside?" ''Quite right, your ludship," said Watkins, rising and commencing to dust himself off. "It runs out into the big rucks on the beach." "Well," I said, "if you are going tu get us out, Watty, you have got to move quickly. Toutou and his friends will be back any moment." "Very good, sir, Mr. Jack," an swered Watkins, calmly producing u knife froij his belt. "Such a necessity was duly forseen, If I may say so." He went to work methodically on my lashings. "Are the others all right?" Hugh asked. "Yes, your ludship. Ah, Mr. Jack, sir, there you are. One moment, sir, until I 'ave 'is ludship loose, and I'll give you a bit of i rub." He sawed away at Hugh's ropes, while I slapped my cold legs with hands I could scarcely scarce-ly move. "Why. your ludship, when we came outside we talked things over, and Crst o" Protesor King 'e says that 'e's gtdng in. But I pointed out to 'iro 'ow somebody should stay with the young lady, and as ,'e was 'er father fa-ther and I was valet to your ludsliip, it was plain that 'e should stick by the launch, whilst I " "Never mind any more," Hugh cut him off, as he rl'sposed of the 1. t wrappings. "We can talk things over later. Help us to get our circulate back. Rub, man, rub ! That's it 1" Presently we were able to wall; stiffly. Our first concern was to lower low-er Nikka into the drain.' He was so weak '.hat he took little interest in the rescue. We had Watkins go down ahead of him, and Hugh and I, between be-tween us, eased him gently through the hole, am: Watkins caught him around the waist and steadied him. My instinct was to follow them immediately, im-mediately, but Hugh checked me. "See here," he said, "now that we've got this secret entrance, why do we need to let the enemy know of It?" "How do you mean?" J asked stu pidly. "Can't we cover up our tracks?" he pursued. "Here, Watty," he called into in-to the drain, "hand up that crowbar. You get started. We'll be all right, but we have a job to do first Get on. We'll catch up with om" (To Be Continued) CHAPTER X Continued. i ,live jjow to the position 1 was In, i.Lned my eyes wider and tried ro i ' 1 Bnt i was bound hand and foot, ! flwuld not move. I could, however, 1 ' ( , where I was. Not far away Hugh i irta were propped against the L be wail of a chamber, which l sup-; sup-; - T0D could call a dungeon, rt had ! ' mtfiwJow. The door was open, -he , : Soor cioped gradual!? toward the cen-u cen-u where there was a square stone ; 1'tlng about two feet square. BDt the most Interesting asi act of ' m surroundings was the group In the : doorv-,-. Toutou stood tn front, his : Jeen eves sparkling with hate and fjst HilmJ Bey fawned at his elbow. !ge"re Vassilievlch and Hiiyer were there. To'- U1 frowned at ur , hand on ! tolie-hllt, Helene de Cespedes and Sandra Vassilievna, in their modish i jDitaMS, looked singularly out of 'place. Tli jy lent a touch of unreality 1 10 what was otherwise a singularly Wish picture. As I looked, Helene sieppea forward. j "Help 'r. Nash to sit up, Montey," ! sbe said. j He raised me not ungently to a alt i dug n-sition. ; "Y0j are ir. a serious fix," said Helene. "I've tried to make you boys ' understand that the bodies were mer-jdfti! mer-jdfti! enemies compared to us. We i 1 I don't recognize civilization. For us , j It doesn't exist We have gorj back : 'to primal principles. Now we've got ' ' foo, and you've got to talk." j j "Words, words," lamented Hilmi ttt nre nexF twenty-four hours. You cannot be saved. Your friends cannot can-not reach you. The authorities cannot can-not Intervene. If they did, you would disappear. You have twenty-four hours more." They took all the lanterns, except one, and went out, L eking the door after them. CHAPTER XI Watkins to the Rescue "Well, this Is a nice .mess 1 got you chaps into," said Hugh unhappily. "It's not your fault any more than It Is ours," returned Nikka. "We walked squarely Into a trap and were bagged. That's all. Did the Kings and Watty get away?" "Must have. Helene and the others said nothing about them." "I hope they will not try anything foolish in the way of a rescue," said Nikkn. "If Wasso Mikali establishes touch with them, I am afraid thej ; may be tempted to do something." "There is nothing they can do," answered an-swered Hugh. "Our goose Is cooked, i We're kaput, finished. As nelene said, I if the O. C. of the Forces of Occupa-j Occupa-j tion jammed his way In here, they j could make a clean sweep of us. They I might " He hesitated. ! "they might drop us down that i grating in the door, toss us into the ; Bosphorus the way Abdul the Damned used to dispose of his enemies. There 1 are lots of things they could do with us. They will think that even if thej have to scrag us they will still have the Kings and Watty to work on." Nikka aroused himself. "There Is no sense In abandoning hope," he remarked. "Is this any worse than that pill box nt Le Ferriere?" "Good old Nikka," said Hugh affectionately. affec-tionately. "I say, let's try for a nap, .It must be some hours to daylight yet not that that matters any in this dark hole." T'.ut "almost fit once he Dung mo from him, and walked across to Hugh, who met him unflinchingly. "I take it, Monsieur Toutou," said Hugh, "that the twenty-four hour3 are up." Toutou stood over him, with that peculiarly pe-culiarly animal, bent-kneed posture of meditated attack, arms flexed forward. "Not quite," he answered in the throaty, guttural voice that 1 always Identified him with. "But we are tired of waiting.' He swooped and snatched Hugh Into his arms, just as a gorilla might, squeezing ferociously. Hugh's face showed above his shoulder, white and beaded with perspiration. I thought tlie Cend intended to crush Hugh's ribs, but he ceased as suddenly as he had begun and tossed his victim down on the floor again. "You shall come last," he growled. "First, you shall see your friends suffer." suf-fer." Hugh was too weak from the handling han-dling he iiad just experienced and the shock of his fall to see what happened hap-pened next, but I did. Toutou leaped on Nikka with one tigerish spring, lifting him to his feet and propping him against the wall. Then he prodded prod-ded Nikka from head to foot, testing out muscles and joints, all the time growling In bis throat. He did not hurt him, simply felt of him as though to determine the parts of his body which would be juiciest. Nikka's face showed revulsion, but no fear. "Do you eat men, Toutou?" he gibed. Toutou flashed his knife, and 1 closed my eyes, thin'Jng to see the torture begin. But when I opened them again, the knife was slashing the ropes that bound Nikka's limbs. For a sec nd 1 credited the 'ncredible. Were we to be set free? But no. Toutou Tou-tou sheatbud the knife, and crouched before Nikka once more, animal-like, menacing. "I am a bone-breaker," he rasped. "I break men, bone by bone, joint by joint Have you ever felt your bones breaking, your sinews cracking? Guu'n-hrr-rrrr-rrr-rr !" He pounced and Nikka screamed, screamed in an excess of agony as the beast's fiLgers sank Into his shoulder, torturing the nerves, tearing the sinews sin-ews and muscles, dragging the bone from its socket. Bu' there was another cry from the open door. Wit . a whirl of skirts a slight figure darted in, a knife gleamed and plunged home, and Toutou started back from his victim, his own left arm dripping blood. His face was a jueer mixture of rage, lust and puzzled alarm. AnC before him, knife in one hand, pistol in the other, stood Kara, her eyes blazing with passion, breast heaving through the rags of her bodice, bod-ice, her slender body quivering with anger. "You would dare!" site cried shrilly. "You would dare to touch my man ! No man lives who can touch him while I live. He is mine, 1 say 1 Mine ! I will cut your throat, big FreDch pig. I will carve out your bowels ! ' will pick out your eyes 1 ' will, I say 1 I will I" Slu danced toward him so energetically energet-ically that he cowered and gave ground before her. "Go!" she cried, gesturing with her pistol toward the door. "Quick, before I strikel" And she leaped at him. He clutched his wounded arm, and retreated. re-treated. "Go, I say I" She raised her arm to stab him ugain. "Did you think I would let you touch him? Did not the others say that you should only harm one of them? And you took my man ! Oh, 1 will cat you in ribbons 1" And this time be turned, and fled through the door, slamming It behind him. She was swift on his heels, jerked open . e door and ran out Into the passage after him. "Run!" I heard her shout. "I am close to you! I, Kara Tokaljl ! My knife Is at your back. Make haste" Then the door swung to, and shut out the echoes of Toutou's retreat. My whole thought wai. of Nikka, his face green In the lantern light, his empty stomach retching from the nausea nau-sea from horrible pain. Hugh called to him : "Nikka, old chap! Pull yourself to gother. Can you get me unfastened? I'll see what I can do foi- " But I promptly tost interest In Nikka's Nik-ka's plight. For my ear, that 1 could not lif from the floor, reus, ered once more that peculiar clinking und'-i-i, ounc. this time more pronounced and nearer. I peered Hl.v along the (loot and then stiffened in amazement as the grating in the middle of the room lifted two or three Inches. It thudded Into place again with a shower of dust, but at once the clinking was resumed, and the heavy stonework was pried upward. up-ward. "Ilr.gh!" I whispered. "Nikka I My God, look at the grating! Do you see what 1 see?" Nikka was still too sick to understand, under-stand, hut Hugh stared at t' j gruting, and his cye3 popped from his head as he .icccmed Its unsteady progress upward. We were both afraid to speak, afraid to guess what It might moan. And while we still watched, uncertainly, wondering whether to hope or to fear, we heard n loud grunt, the grating rose into the air, tottered and fell out of place, leaving the drain only half-cov-r-rod. The end of a steel crowbar appeared ap-peared in this opening, there was another an-other grunt, the grating was levered aside and Watkins clambered laborl-1 laborl-1 ously into the dungeon. Wc could only stare at him. Eveu poor Nikka forgot his agony and peered unbelievingly at this extraordinary apparition. ap-parition. "For Cod's sake, Watty, where did you come from?" burst from Hugh. i: I A ? X I J- if 'Mm j Somebody Caught My Wrls.t. We slept fitfully, frightfully har assed by the curtailment of circulation circula-tion due to the straitness of our bonds and the discomfort of our positions, which we might not change. Of course, we had no means ol estimating the passage of time, but we figured It was well Into the forenoon fore-noon when we abandoned further efforts ef-forts for sleep. Nobody came to us, and we began to be aware of the pangs of hunger and thirst. For a while we talked and sang and told stories, but our cracked Hps and swollen tongues soon felt the strain of vocal effort What the others did then " don't know, but I fell asleep to awaken with a gasp of agony as 1 lost my balance and fell sideways, striking ny head on the sto.'.e floor. "Too bad,' came Un ,,-s voice from the darkness, strangely muffled. "Hit your head, Jack?' "Yes," I moaned. "Twenty-four hours must be nearly up," croaked Nikka. I fought for a while to work over on to my back, but my limbs hrtd become be-come so stiff that I could not. I had to lie on my stomach, with my he-d resting, now on one cheek, now on the other. In this position, ear to the floor, It se:med to me that I heard a clink of metal, not outside the door of the dungeon, but somewhere underneath. under-neath. I asked the others if they heaul It, but they said no, arid I could tell from their pitying tones that they thought I was becoming delirious. Yet again I heard It, and almost Immediately afterward a wholly different differ-ent s.und: footsteps npproti hlng the door. The two noises rerslste1 together to-gether until the dungeon door was thrown open with a clatter. I forgot all about the first noise In th sight at Toutou LaFitte, standing by himself In the doorway, his shut sleeves rolled up and a grin of horrible anticipation distorting his beautiful face. In the doorway he stood motionless for a moment, surveying the three of us. Then he advanced, leaving the door open against the wall, and unhooked un-hooked the stable lantern which hung from his belt. He placed this close to the grating, and prowled over to where I lay. I say "prowled," and J mean Just that. He walked like a big forest cat, or, rather, like a gorilla, Investigating a likely meal awaiting the kill. When he stood by me, 1 felt up and down my spine the shiver of apprehension, of sheer horror, that I had known before be-fore tn his proximity. When he turned mo on my back, and his powerful bands, with their smooth fingers and polished nails, explored my muscles, I could have screamed with terror. 1 twitched at his touch, with an Involuntary Involun-tary exclamation of repugnance. He snarled, and his lingers pressed on a nerve of the upper arm, with a force thatjnade me faint viciously. "Let Toutou take his kni. j jlo Hicra. Tlmt will do the trick." ! Xokaljl evidently understood the Purport of this, for he rasped a quick nt. Toutou flashed a long, stllet-i stllet-i .Ip blaile' an3 stepped toward us. u carve them," he purred. "They not ml; now us they will when 1 : ls'-edwlth hem. Ha, yes, Tou-' Tou-' knife knows the wa; to truth. 7 ' wl" "e laldug to die." Tiiu'r !'yr 5nmpeii ln front of bIm-1 bIm-1 ''"ShUnnim's thin face was aflame temper. ' "j s:iml for n good deal," he said, f,Hl !""'' '"'"''"it torture. You are a routo,,. You'd only kill them the Jou did the old lord. Here, you e must call him off. He'll . "-' whole show." roiic!!'1',1' I'!K'11(1 Lim up nnd co:j- tt, . "or bi-jthor somewhat sullenly Toli PrlCSt Uut 111111,1 Boy , rosing 2' e,lerGetlcully took the op- 2 ',0h h?ve kill01 thre( -e of my nliarmC(i? Ugl1 "ly tr'be' nnd llve lj. T1'J' slla11'" declared Helene calni- r'awa b?Ta bosl(ie Toutou- nnd liieC ' 1,ls-,ue snarled In his cat-But cat-But .he t ' ,lm drew nwny from her. '"J l(.Wlrl C(UUe C,0Ser t0 hln). lior n, "n(lor the compulsion of Its shoJu, retunied the knife to rt,w bwm eno"S" 'Of this' Join "l ou- "Mr. Nash, do yon eive un vn,,, frlPmls ln refusing to iJ Jour secret?" 1 nodiici 1 CI'V i, . llcave von .. nnswered, "we will :,vise' you l k, u over- " u ,l'"idered I, umll'rstd that having 1,ave bJZ S trnP-ns you must he you"! ed Soone' or .ater-the Clla,,!'e for h ?6 fr ls life ln 6S" ClliiiiiUe to " We waut 1 cannot 0f uose -i,?,e,you trom the cruelty Is I n ?lhh brutal measures. l.5 '" t0 n,y Patience, too. ..---la juMje intelligent use |