Arizona republican., 1914-07-24

upon the eyes, blackness so thick it mixed with the rank tomb-ike smell of the underground place wherein she stood
 Slowly she groped her way hack to the S+en. hndlng the last one and feeling about for some means of throwing back the opening. The stems beneath her feet were slippery, worn as though ,he rect oi thousands and hundreds of thousands mad passed that way for as many years And al- ways about her, yet never so close as to coma ln contact with her, were the owners of the feet that slipped and gded surefootedly unon tbe steps. Above her. that solid wall; beneath her. steps that led down into the bowels of the earth. about her, human beings whom she could not sea Tn the intensity of her nervousness, she fanp herself upon the steps. giving way to racking sons at the horrible fate that appeared to have put an end to her adventr s.
 No odds now weirdly situated how drooaf,, ones i'redicament, encounter with human beings lnln:al or invisible though they be is calculated to rouse ones conductive spirit Lucille rose swiftly, her brain in a whirl, her pulse numhad as curiously claw-like hands-but human hands sought out her wrists, drawing her down the steps, silently, with undertaking purpose but ;eFer harshly. Realizing the futlity of resistance Her uttEE helpessness, Lucille numblv allowed herseil to be conducted down the long flight Velltable army seemed 10 swarm bel ore and about her, judging from the footballs. 1\ 9 hands upon her wrists were cold, unhealthy. hairv vet the sounds of the voices of her captors were the Ah:Sh gutturals of deaf mutes, incomprehensible yet human.
 Her knees jolted almost from under her as she reached out and finally found no downward step Round devious. black passages, through rockvaulted aisles, close the sides brushed against her, she was hustled She had given herself completely uJ to her guides She knew, with heavy despair that only accident could enable her to find her way back to the steps through all the turns they had made Quite abruptly she felt her eyes blinded, as the mantle Of blackness was flung aside. For moment she could not sec, then, becoming accustomed to the transition from darkness to comparative light, ChY,l1o Af IL hairy, dwarfed, mis-shapen creatures who sur- rounded her. creatures who chattered in the gut turals of mutes; creatures whom the perpetual darkness had paled to fsh-like palor; lures whose hydrocephaic heads were always bent far forward as though the sense of hearing had been given them in treble value because of the blindness with which the subterranean life had afflicted them, blindness complete to make itself evident to her without even seeing the white, sightless pupils that bulged at her through the hairy mane upon their faces.
 Sick with the unwhoiesomeness of the sight, Lucille lifted her eyes. at shrlll chatering note Tn the gutturals, a note that strangely fa- miar, even welcome. Anything would have been welcome to her ears against the repulsive noises made by the mutes. She stared wonder lngly at the enormous carven statue of malign- ant faced man, a man with mighty torso and gigantic arms a whose head lowered far above her and whose forehead and neck and arms were loaded with blazing rubies. The alien sound that drove the mutes crouchng back came from the gigantic statue And then Lucille saw that huge orang outang squatted complacently in the palms of the idol, his beady eyes blinking wonderngly at her, his wrinkled, old-mans face puckered curiously.
 As though their fear had subsided, the under ground creatures once more closed in upon Lucille. Some impulse made her dart toward the orang though for protection. The foul creatures were about her. clawing at her with their horrible, un- certain paws, like giant bats. The monkey seemed suddenly to waken to the situation. With B shrill note of rage he leaped from his squatting posture and snatched the necklace of rubies from about the idols neck fingng it squarely into the center of the mob. It had the effect of d lawing them back for moment. With shrill squeas. the orangs hairy paw plucked jewel after jewel from the idol, hurling them at the creatu,.s with the speed of bullets. Again and again he drove them back from her and Lucille constantly fought her way closer to this strange protector.
 Her heart sank as she saw the creature had more missiles. She caught Bash of hairy arms and body as he leaped toward her, his huge, round arms failing about him. dropping the sub terranean inhabitants at every swing. Lucille, guided by some impulse, stopped and picked up the blazing necklace, extending it to the orang. He seemed not to notice. Wildly he threshed about the creatures dropping like nine-pins. Backward, ever backward, Lucille felt her way. edging through the mob as her protector cleared a passage. The rock ribbed vault echoed and echoed hideously with the shrill soueals of rage from the orang. the gutturas of terror and pain from her assailants Now they fighting among themselves, tumbling about in wild chaos of and legs and bodies.
 She closed her eyes against the terrible sight, Despite herself she almost succumbed to feel ing of faintness from the nausea which the crea- lures hideous sightlessness inspired within her. And still the orang fought jibbering wildly. Suddenly Lucille felt her feet slipping from under her; felt herself going down toward a rippling, musical sound gently falling through the black though she sank within a soft mattress of feathers.
 Cold waters up and broke her fall, clos ing about her and edging her gently to and fro. Instinctvely she reached out, her hands closing about a narrow strip of wood. With every atom of strength in her frail body she clung, making out finally that the object a canoe. Slowly she slipped down the current until a flicker of narrow light glowed far ahead
 The sight inspired her with fresh energy. She drew herself up, carefully balanced the canoe against her weight then slipped into the bottom and lay there exhausted. She groped about as the sides of the subterranean cavern expanded. the light grew broader. paddle encountered her fingers and she thrust it out into the water. Came a crunching of wood as it ripped against the in dismay at the useless handle that alone maned to her.
 Gently, azily the foated down, to- ward the corresponding wedge of light Slowly, very slowly, the fresh air of the jungle met her quivering nostrils, sweet to her now in compar1- son with the unwholesome odor of the under ground world from which she had so miracu- lously escaped And as she opened her mouth laying her throat with the intoxicating odor that had been repulsve to her before.