Cheer Boys Cheer: The Boys' Journal, No. 62 — page 18: what you’re looking at

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18 would be almost impossible; to carry him would be quite so; to go for help meant leaving him to die; and to stay with him meant dying with him. But Gawler did not faint. He pulled himself together, and moved on, staggering. Quinthred staggered too; but it seemed to him that since they had passed the place where the Rooshian had, halted the air had grown distinctly % less heavy and putrid. The passage now had a slight upward slope too. Were they nearing an outlet? Again Gawler halted. He had CHEER BOYS CHEER, into it, and Gawler passed without seeing him, holding the lantern in front of him. The Rooshian’s sallow countenance had turned almost purple, and his lips were drawn back from his teeth so that he looked like a snarling animal. Hane the fellow! Had _ he reached the tether of his courage? No, it was not that. Brutal bully though he was, Gawler had plenty of pluck. This midnight exploration of his showed up that quality in no small measure. Many a man who might have fronted Gawler gaye a shriek that sounded almost as horrible as the sound which had frightened him, Next moment he charged full into Quinthred, and the two rolled together on the floor of the passage. come to another parting of the ways —a triple parting this time. After consultation with his plan, he took the middle one. This was much wider than those thus far traversed, and Quinthred noted that here and there were grooves in the wall, much like the man-holes in a tunnel, but less regular in shape. The light of Gawler’s lantern fell on the floor ahead of him, and he showed a black, huge lump against it. It was the light rather than the figure which Quinthred foliowed. Suddenly the light shifted round. The bully was turning back. Quinthred was close to one of the cavities in the wall. He slipped death bravely in daylight and fresh air would have shied at this. He had made up his mind, it seemed, that the middle passage was the wrong one, for on reaching again the place where it began he chose the left-hand opening. Quinthred followed, of course. Twenty yards or so the Rooshian had gone, and Quinthred was about five yards behind him. 2 Both halted, as if by mutual consent. To their ears had come a horrible wailing sound. Quinthred was alarmed; Gawler was absolutely terrified. This was where his courage failed. He had braced himself against danger and - armour. loneliness, fou! air, and the risk of, getting lost; but he had ignored the supernatural, and when that sound smote his ears his pluck gave way. He stood for a moment like oue petrified. Then he dropped his lantern, and gave a shriek chat sounded almost as horrible as the sound which had frightened him. Next moment he charged full into Quinthred, and the two rolled together on the floor of the passage. Gawler had gripped the other fellow’s -throat desperately, and it was all that Quinthred could do to drag himself free. So frantically did the frightened bully plunge and struggle that the only course open to Quinthred was to reveal his identity, and quiet him by the knowledge that his antagonist was a schoolfellow, even if an enemy, and not some dreadful denizen of this subterranean region. CHAPTER VIII. In the Darkness, “Get up, you idiot!” The Rooshian dimly recognised that voice, but could not believe his ears. Before Quinthred could say mors there came another sound—sharp, short, the bark of a dog, as it seemed to him. And that long wail might have been a dog’s howl surely. “What's that?’ mumbled the bully, trembling in the darkness. ““T don’t know,” replied Quin- thred. He didn’t know, and he had no intention of saying what he guessed it to be. “Who are you, anyhow?” “‘Quinthred; you know that well enough.”’ “JT thought so. But I didn’t know. I can’t make out how you came here. What’s that?’’ “That” was to Quinthred’s ears unmistakably a human voice—some- one calling to the dog. But he did not say so. “‘Same as the others, I guess,” he replied coolly. ‘‘ This is a queer place, Gawler !”’ “It is. I want to get out of it,” the Rooshian answered, almost meekly. : ‘* Best thing you can do, I should say. Silly trick, coming here.” *‘Hanged if I’m sure of the way, though !”” ‘© Better ask the ghost,’’ returned Quinthred. He and Gawler had got to their feet, but the Rooshian took care to keep fast hold of his enemy’s arm. “Do you think it is a ghost?” The bully’s teeth were chatter- ing. Here was the weak spot in his Once the idea of a spook kad entered his mind, he could not get rid of it, could not regain his courage. “What else can it be? And what's likelier than that some of the old monks should walk?” “J say, Quinthred, this _ is particularly beastly! I’ve dropped my lantern, you know, and the thing’s goue out, and [I dont believe I've a match.”” : S (Alm any irel avoyvoy Z@= (myinan) Comichbooks.com