Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-01-01

q think so. It's terribly small bit to
saw with, but"
ITO work then! can't stand this much
longer"
the tough and water-soaked bonds. She
worked half an hour before the first one,
thread by thread yielding. gave way The
second followed soon after: aad now. with
torn and bleeding fingers, she released the
final bond.
THANK Heavcnl' he breathed as she
began chahng his numb wrists and arms
20 bring the circulation back again; and
presently, when he had tegalned some use
Of his own hands, he also rubbed his arms
NO great damage done after ALL" he
judged, 80 far as this Is concerned But,
by the Almighty were In one friEnttul
fix every other way! IIark Hear those
demons outside there? God knows what
they're up to now :"
Both prisoners listened.
Even through the massive walls OF the
and gruesome chant that rose, fell, died
and then resumed. seemingly In unison with
the variant roaring OF the flame
Thereto also an irregular metallic sound
as Of blows struck on iron and no" an. any
then shrili high-pitched cry The effect
Of these strange sounds, rendered vague
and unreal by the density Of the walls. and
family penetrating the dreadful darkness
, surpassed all efforts Of the Imagination.
Beatrice and Stern. bold as they were,
hardened by rough adventurings, felt theli
hearts sink with holdings. and for while
they spoke no word. They sat there to-
gethor on the floor OF polished stone-per-
ceptlby warm to the touch and greasy with
IA peculiarly rcpellent substance-and
thought long thoughts which neither one
dared voice.
But at length the engineer now much
recovered from his pain and from the
| oppression Of the lungs caused by the COM
pressed air, reached for the girls hand In
the dark.
without you where should bc?" he ex-
| claimed My good angel now, as always !"
She made no answer, but returned the
pressure Of his hand. And for n while
silence fell between them therc-silence
broken only by their troubled breathing
and the cadcnccd roaring of the huge gas
we'll flame outside the prison wall
At last Stern spoke
Let's get some better idea of this place"
| said he, Maybe If we know just what
we're up against we'll understand better
| what to do"
And slowly, cautiously. with every sense
| alert he began exploring the dungeon. Floor
and walls he felt of, with minute care,
| reaching as high as he could and eagerly
seeking some possible crevicc. some promise
no matter how remote--of ultimate es-
| cape.
But the examination ended only in dis
| courRgement Smooth almost as glass the
| walls were, and the floor as well, perhaps
worn down by countless prisoners,
The iron door. ccvcrly set into the wall.
| lay flush with It, and offered not the slight
est irregularity to the touch. So nicely was
| II fitted that not even Sterns hngcrnail
| could penetrate the joint.
Nothing doing in the escape line" he
| passed Judgment unwlingly. "Barbarans
| these people certainly are In some ways but
! they've got the arts of stone and iron work
! ing down fine. l. as an engineer. have to
! appreciate that. and give the remote de-
! Of
| II works our ruin Cad, but they're clever
though"
Discouraged. in spite Of all his ATTEMPTED
| optimism. he sought the girl again. there in
the deep and velvet dark. To himself he
drew her; and, his arm about her sinuous,
| supple body, tried to comfort her with cheer
| Ing speech
We'll, Beatrice. they haven't got us yet
| We're better off, the whole, than we
had any right to hope for, after having
fallen one or two hundred miles-maybt
five hundred who knows? II | can manage
to get word or two with these confounded
barbarlans, I'll maybe save our bacon vet
And at worst--well, We're in mighty good
little fort here | pity anybody that tries
to come in that door and get us
"Oh, Allan-those Skeletons those head
less skeetons." :" she whispered. and in his
arms he teIt her shudder with uncomfortable
| fear
us to their little collection. you mark my
words These men are white they're our
own kind, even though they have slid back
into barbarism. They'll listen to reason.
once get a chance at them"
Thus talking of the abyss and of thell
faIl-now OF one phase now another, of
their frightful posltlon-they passed an hour
! in the sitting dark.
And, joining their observations and ideas
they were able to get some general idea of
the conditions under which these incredible
folk were dwelling
From the warmth of the sea and the i'm,
mense quantities OF vapor that filed the
abyss they concluded that il must he NJ
a tremendous depth in the earth--perhaps
as far down as Sterns extreme guess OF
hve hundred mlles-and also that it must be
of very large extent.
Beatrice had noted also that the yotar
| was salt, This led them to the concIuslon
that in some way or other perhaps inter
mittently, the oceans on the surface ,vsre
supplying the subterraEcan sea.
IF I'm not much mistaken" JUDGED the
| engineer that tremendous maelstrom near
| the site OF New Haven-the catarHct tbot
almost got us. just after we started out
has something very vital TO do with this
situation. '''''
In that case, and II there's a way for
water to come down, why mayn't there be
way for us TO climb up? Who Snows2"
But II there were" she angwered
wouldn't these peape have found IT, in ali
| these hundreds and hundreds of years?"
| They discussed the question, pro and con
with many another that bore on the folk
this strange and inexpl,cable Imprisonment
| the huge flame at the center Of the COM
munitys life the probable intentions OF
their captors, and the terrifying rows OF
| headless skeletons.
What those mean l don't know" said
Stern. There may be human sacrifice
! here, and offerings Of blood 10 some out
landlsh god they've invented or these
relics may be trophies of battle with other
! peoples OF the abyss
ITO judge from the way this place is
fortified, | rather think there must be other
| tribes, with more or less constant warfar,
| The Internal fools When the human race
is all destroyed as II is, except a few
| handfuls Of albino survivors. 10 make war
| and kill each other! It's on n par with
the old Maoris of New Zealand who vlrtu-
| ally eNterminated each other-fuugnt IN
| most of the tribes were wiped clean out
and only remnant was left for the British
TO subdue 2"
I'm more interested in what they're
going to do with us now" she answered,