The Argosy, Vol. XXV, No. 1 — page 52: what you’re looking at

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

52 A PERUVIAN PARADISE. It went out in the water with a hiss, and they were left in total darkness. Had they another dry one? And when that was found, had they dry matches? Ford and Fitch had not, but Keeth found a single lucifer in his match safe, and after.a few minutes of styx-like darkness they had the cheering presence of a flaming torch again. Then Keeth again cast the rope, this time with success. . ; Fitch swarmed*up like a performing elephant, and with his aid Ford was enabled to assist Keeth to the top of the cascade. ‘The water was now sweeping down the tunnel waist deep. They hurried on, sometimes plung- ing into holes to their armpits, and barking their legs sadly on the hidden rocks. . But Keeth held the torch high above his head and managed to keep it alive. At last they arrived at the bottom of the highest cascade—the first one they had encountered upon entering the tunnel. The water was tumbling down it and boiled at the bottom like acaldron. The three adventurers looked at one another aghast. They could never climb up that rock, and it Was an open question whether Keeth, in his present exhausted condition, could throw the rope over the knob of rock where it had been looped when they descended. The water swirled around them and almost carried them off their feet by its force. The thunder still echoed, and reechoed through the tunnel. The storm was at its height. Suddenly at the top of the cascade, amid the driving spray, appeared a face—a wild, haggard face, which peered down at them with bloodshot eyes. ‘(What is it?’’ gasped Ford, shrinking back from the sight. The creature waved its arm and fortunately Keeth understood the sign. He coiled the rope quickly and tossed it upward. The claw-like hands of the strange looking being clutched it and looped it over the jagged spur of rock. Keeth, inspired by the discovery he had made, seized the rope and went up, hand over hand. He was breathless when he reached the top and was thankful for the assistance of the stranger in getting upon the rock. ‘‘Queek ! de others !’’ cried his rescuer in his ear. But Ford was already half way up the rope, and when he was by their side they laid hold of the hemp together and hauled Fitch from the bottom of the cascade. ‘The torch had been lost again and they were in darkness. ‘* Follow—queek !’’ muttered the strange man. ‘‘ The water will be over our heads in a moment. Come !’’ He darted along the narrow shelf on which they stood and the three breathless men followed him. In the darkness of the cavern the outlines of the stranger looked like those of a huge ape. In a moment they came to a crack in the wall—a crack so narrow that they had passed it by unnoticed in their descent into the tunnel. Their guide squeezed through this opening and Keeth and Ford followed him. Poor Fitch had to be fairly pulled through the crack by main force. They found themselves in a narrow corridor, branching off at a right angle from the bed of the river. The floor at first slightly inclined upward. Gomichbooks (S@)