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For a tiirl in his arht; but his heart told him there was now no hope

The old man had spoken only too truly There existed no way of convincing these barbarians that their prisoners were not of some hated, hostile tribe Evidently the tradition of the outer world had long since perished as a belief a them The patriarch's faith in it had coary, just as the tradition of the Golden Age was held to be by the later Greeks

That Stern and Beatrice could in any way convince their captors of the truth of this outer world and establish their identity as real survivors of the other time, lay wholly outside the bounds of the probable

And as the old htfully ominous--recurred to Stern'swas very close at hand

"They won't get us, though, without a stiff fight, daht he "That's one satisfaction If they insist on exterh! And it'll be what Sher, a seely interminable wait The door reer tortured theth the merciful sleep of stupefaction overcas were numbed into a welcome oblivion

They were awakened by a confused noise--the sound of cries and shouts, dulled by the thick walls, yet evidently many-voiced--harsh commands, yells, and even soineer started up, wide-eyed and all alert now in the gloom

Gone were his lassitude, his weakness and his sense of pain Every sense acute, he waited, hand clutching the pistol-butt, finger on trigger

"Ready there, Beatrice!" cried he "Soet behind me--but be ready to shoot when I tell you! Steady now, steady for the attack!"

Tense as coiled springs they waited And all at once a bar slid, creaking Around the edge of the ht appeared

"Stand back, you!" yelled Stern "The first ht remained a moment narrow, then suddenly it broadened From without a pandemonium of sound burst in--howls, shrieks, imprecations, cries of pain

Even in that perilous h Stern's brain, what the hastly fate was to be theirs--what torht still have to face before the end