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Billy Byrne continued to fire intermittently for half an hour after the two men had left hiing himself to his hands and knees crawled laboriously and painfully back into the jungle in search of a hiding place where he ressed soive way beneath him He clutched frantically about for support, but there was none, and with a sickening lunge he plunged doard into Stygian darkness

His fall was a short one, and he brought up with a painful thud at the botto to catch their fleet-footed prey

The pain of his wounds after the fall was excruciating His head whirled dizzily He knew that he was dying, and then all went black

When consciousness returned to the ed hole that his falling body had broken in the pit's covering the night before

"Gee!" ht that I was dead!"

His wounds had ceased to bleed, but he was very weak and stiff and sore

"I guess I'ht

He wondered if the two men would reach Barbara in safety He hoped so Mallory loved her, and he was sure that Barbara had loved Mallory He wanted her to be happy No thought of jealousy entered his ed" He didn't He was awith her bunch She would have been ashamed of him, and he couldn't have stood that No, it was better as it had turned out He'd squared himself for the beast he'd been to her, and he'd squared himself with Mallory, too At least they'd have only decent thoughts of hi He would be in the way He would be a constant embarrassment to them all, for they would feel that they'd have to be nice to hiht made the mucker sick

"I'd rather croak," he er, and toward evening the pangs of hunger and thirst drove hi place, and searching for food and water

He waited until after dark, and then he crawled, with ut of the natives since the night before, and now, in the open, there cae life across the clearing