The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-05-11
'. c. Chapman


 door, locked 1t behind her.
 Where Tarzan stood it was dark as Erebus Not even his trained eyes could penetrate the utter blackness. Cautiously he moved forward until his very slowly, he traveled around the four walls of2she chamber.
 Apparently it was about twenty feet square. The floor was of concrete. the walls of the dry masonry that mark ed the method of construction above ground. Small pieces of granite of various sizes were ingeniously laid to- gether without mortar to construct \ these ancient foundations.
 The first time around the walls Tar gan thought he detected strange pIe- nomenon for room with no windows and but single door. Again he crept carefully around close to the wall. No, he could not be nistaken! He paused before the center of the wall opposite the door. For moment he stood quite motion1ess, then he moved q few feet to one side. Again he returned, only to move few feet to the other side There was no doubt of itI A distinct draft of fresh air was blowing into the chamber through the interstices of the masonry at that particular point and nowhere else
 Tarzan tested several pieces of the granite which made up the wall at this spot and finally was rewarded by ind ing one which lifted out dily. It was about ten inches wide. with a face some by inches showing within the ! chamber. One by one the ape-man | lifted out similarly shaped stones. Tho wall at this point was constructed en- tirely, it seemed, of these almost per E feet slabs. In a short time he had re ] moved some dozen. when he reached in to test the next layer of masonry. To his surprise he felt nothing behind l the masonry he had removed, as far as his long arm could reach.
 It was matter Of but a few min utes to remove enough of the wall to permit his body to pass through the aperture Directly ahead of him he thought that he discerned q faint glow. scarcely more than a less impenetrnble darkness Cautiously he moved for ward on hands and knees until at about fifteen feet, or the average thickness Of the founda ton walls, the floor ended abruptly in a sudden drop. As far out as he could reach he felt nothing, nor could he find the bottom of the black abyss that yawned before him, though, clinging to the edge of I the floor. he lowered his body into the darkness to its full length.
 Finally it occurred to him to look up. and there above him he saw through q round opening tiny circular patch of starry sky. Feeling up along the sides | of the shaft as far as he could reach. ! the ape-man discovered that so much of the wall as he could feel conYerged I toward the center of the shaft as it rose This fact precluded possibility Of escape in that direction.
 As he sat speculating on the nature l and uses of this strange passage and l its terminal shaft the moon topped the opening above, letting flood of soft, sflvery light into the shadowy place Instantly the nature of the shaft be came apparent to Tarzan, for far be- low him he saw the shimmering sur face of water. He had come upon an ancient well. But what was the pur- 1 pose of the connection between the well and the dungeon in which he had been hidden?
 As the moon crossed the opening of the shaft its light flooded the whole interior, and then Tarzan saw directly | across from him another opening in the opposite wall He wondered if this might not be the mouth of a passa ge leading to possible escape. It would
 be worth investigating at least, and
 IAs he determined to do.
 Quickly returning to the wall he had
 demolished to explore what lay beyond it, he carried the stones into the pas
 sageway and replaced them from that
 side. The deep deposits Of dust which
 he had noticed upon the blocks as he
  I had convinced him that even if the
 present occupants of the ancient pile
 had knowledge of this hidden passage
 they had made no use of 1t for perhaps I generations.
 l The wall replaced, Tarzan returned
 to the shaft. which was some ffteer
 feet wide at this point To leap across the intervening space was a small m at
 ter to the ape-man, and moment later
 he was proceeding along narrow tun-
 mel, moving cautiously for fear of be ing precipitated into another shaft
 such as he had just crossed
 He had advanced some hundred feel 1 when he came to a flight of steps lead
 ing downward into the Stygian gloom
 Some twenty feet below the level flool
 of the tunnel recommended, and short
 ly afterward his progress was stopped
 by heavy wooden door, which was
 secured by massive wooden bars upor
 the side of Tarzan's approach. This
 fact suggested to the ape-naan that he
 doubtless was in passageway lead
 ing to the outer world. for the bolts
 barring progress from the opposite I side. tended to substantiate this hy
 pothesis unless it were merely prisor i ra which 1t led
 I tro Dc Continuad1