The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1914-07-11
mob outside stood San as though pet.

The three followed the priest. whose
robe OF white wool was alone visible In
the %obscurity of the interior. He fit,
ted in front of them, his felt slippers
making no sound upon the thick pile
of the carpet, until at length he stopped
before an altar, behind which, in bra,
zen armor, stood the life-size figure OF
the god of war. The grinning face and
dripping sword seemed to be family IL
lumined by the reflection Of lights
burning somewhere in the recesses OF
the building. The sudden aspect OF
this %ferocious face under the steel
headpiece. the crimson stains upon
the sword, Mortified the fugitives; they
stood stock still, uncertain where to
advance. And suddenly the priest dis
appeared and a door snapped shut.
They waited In silence until their
eyes became accustomed to the gloom,
and, little by little, they were able to
distinguish objects around them; then
they felt their way cautiously forward
until farther progress was arrested by
a steel barrier. Haynes struck a
match, and by its light they perceived
that a wall of wrought iron, extending
from the stone floor to the high roof of
the pagoda, barred their advance. On
either side of them was a similar wall.
Behind them was another, in which
was set the temple gate, two feet be-
hind the teakwood door. They were in
a trap.
Then all at once the truth dawned
on them. They were Gagged securely as
any wild beasts in geological gardens,
Gagged before the altar of the god of
war, to whom they were destined to be
offered as a sacrifice. And the in
scrutable Chinese mind had planned
all this from the first, had lured them
into the pagoda in the belief that they
would find safety there. Escape was
impossible. They looked into each
others faces, and each read his fate in
his fellows eyes.
Six feet behind the wrought iron bar
rier the god stood over his altar, one
hand stretched out, brandishing that
dreadful sword, still wet from the
blood OF victims. At some time, per-
haps days later, after exhaustion had
made resistance impossible, that Sc
cret gate in the iron wall would open
again, and, one by one, they would be
dragged off by the priests to the sac
riice.
If Haynes could reach the sword he
calculated that he could hew his way
through the soft iron, whose malleable
properties made 1t more s~erviceable as
a cage than any structure of steel,
which might haply have been frac-
tured or d~isjointed by repeated blows.
But 1t was so closely wrought that he
could pass only two fingers of one
hand between the interstices. He
looked at Beyers In despair. But the
others had resigned themselves to the
inevitable; husband and wife were tax
ing last farewell of one another. OBJ
livious of his presence. In that hour
of peril he was forgotten, and for an
instant. as he recalled all that he had
endured for his wife and daughter. a
little fire of jealousy smouldered in
Haynes heart. 1t was but momentary,
but ere it died it sent back his thoughts
with a rush to Mary. Perhaps she too
stood in some such deadly danger.
Perhaps-he shuddered and turned
sick with horror at the unhallowed
neutrality-suspicious. that was her blood
upon the sword!
He set his wits to work examining
the iron structure. There seemed no
way OF assaulting it without the sword.
But he perceived that there was a
space of about four inches between the
bottom of the steel and, the ground,
and that the point of the sword, held
in the idols hand, reached to within an
inch of the flooring and was turned to-
ward him. His eye could measure a
straight line from where he stood to
the point and thence to the sword hilt.
From the deep pocket of his coat he
drew a fiat, round object, resembling
in size and shape nothing so much as
one of those toy roulette wheels used
by amateur gamblers. This was the
gyroscope. From another pocket he
took the little motor, unscrewed it
from the tiny tank, and looked inside.
The tank contained almost a quarter
OF a pint OF gasoline-half It's capacity.
Haynes never travelled without this ap-
paratus, which had often proved his
salvation. Now, desperate as his de-
sign was. 1t seemed to open to them
the only possible avenue of escape.
The gyroscope was so well made and
spun so easily that a quarter of a pint
would serve to keep 1t running for
perhaps an hour. And he could do 40
much in that period. He started the
motor and its low buzzing startled the
lovers from their rhapsody. Haynes
went up to Beyers.
DO you happen to have a piece of
string about you? ?" he asked.
Beyers felt in his pockets doubtful
ly. NO." he answered. What should
l do with a piece of string?"
You, Eleanor"
She shook her head,
Then tear off the hem Of your pet-
%ticoat," said Haynes impatiently.
Even in that peril she hesitated. No
woman likes to wear a petticoat with
a dragged hem, nor Is the dislike les
sened even when she stands in o Chi
nese pagoda, awaiting death at the
hands of a blood-thirsty priest. She
hesitated one moment; then, stoop-
Ing, she rem off a long strip of nlmy
lace and gave it to her father. Haynes
tore 1t into two strips. folded and
Joined them. One end he fastened to
the body OF the machine. the otl.er to
the stop which controlled its action,
and he held the loop in his hand. in the