The Argosy, Vol. XXV, No. 1 — page 50: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

50 A PERUVIAN PARADISE. Within half an hour the noise of the falling water was so loud that they were obliged to shout to each other any communication they might wish to make, They had not been able to travel very rapidly, but were possibly half a mile from the entrance. ‘The water poured over a great slab of rock and dropped a sheer fifteen feet. Keeth quickly looped his rope over a pro- jecting knob and went down hand over hand. The water in which he landed was only half. way to his knees. ‘“Come on!’’ he roared, waving his hand to his friends above, and although they could not hear him they could see his motion in the light of the torch he carried, so both followed him. Keeth again coiled the rope over his arm and they went on, now wading in the water, for the passage had narrowed considerably. Sometimes the roof became quite low and they had to stoop to pass through ; but nothing turned them back. All three recognized the fact that this was their only chance for liberty, and even Fitch made no audible complaint when he barked his bare shins against the boulders. The water was ice cold in this cavern and the damp air chilled them to the bone. It was almost a continual descent after they passed the first fall, and sometimes they were obliged to scramble down over the slimy rocks on hands and knees; at other times they could make use of Keeth’s rope. ‘““Tf we had to get out of here in a hurry I should pray for wings,’’ shouted Ford, with a grin. At length they passed the cascades and went on through a straight tunnel for several hundred yards. Keeth figured that they were nearly a mile from the entrance. And then suddenly, without any warning, they arrived at the end of the cave ! | They were in a circular chamber, the floor of which was sand, and into this sand the waters of the brook sank. Not a solitary outlet appeared. They were like flies in a bottle. ‘Trapped, by Jove !’’ exclaimed Ford. Keeth’s face looked-drawn and haggard. Fitch sat down upon a boulder, puffing from his exertions. The sand below them looked damp and the slime clung to the walls far above their heads. Not long siuce that pocket had been full of water—probably during the last storm. ‘‘T’m afraid,’’ said Keeth slowly, ‘‘ that the poor devil who got into this tunnel wasn’t Jose.’’ He leaped down to the floor of the chamber. Instantly he sank knee deep in the treacherous sand. He struggled to reach the rocks again, but each step he took sank him deeper. ‘“You’ll have to help me out, boys!’’ he cried, and when Ford and the trader hurried forward they found him already waist deep in the quicksand. ‘“Don’t step down here, Ford!’’ Keeth warned the other. ‘‘ There’s no need of us both getting into it. ‘Take that rope yonder and fling me one end. You and Fitch will have to haul me out.’’ All the while he was speaking the treacherous sand was dragging him down, and by the time he had got the rope knotted under his arms he had sunk to his breast. Eomichbooks (S@)