Page 157 (1/2)

"Then it's diaby Macklin of Her Majesty's Royal Marines"

Sanchez stood there open-mouthed All he could think of to mumble was "Well, I'll be damned"

The first thing Shaw noticed as he eased himself down the ventilator shaft was the dank and musty stench that welled up to er reach out with his feet and touch the encircling earth walls He clutched the rope in a near death grip and beaht into the dark

Shaw had dropped into a vast cavern, at least forty feet froe pile of debris in one corner The rope ended twelve feet froht under his arrip

He fell like a pebble falling doell through the blackness, a frightening experience he would never care to repeat

A gasp was squeezed fros when he landed He should have struck clean, his legs takingwrist s crack as it fractured

Shaw sat there for two or threesorry for hi it was only a question ofdown the air shaft and struggled to a sitting position

Groping in his waist for the flashlight, he pushed the switch Thank God, it still worked

He found hie that ran from the cavern into a tunnel carved at one end

Aardly he one-handedly slipped off his belt andthe track into the tunnel

He walked between the rails, careful not to trip on the raised ties The tracks ran level for fifty yards and then started to slant up a slight incline After a while he stopped and played the beam into the darkness ahead

What seemed like two monstrous red eyes reflected back at him

Cautiously hesolid, looked down and saw another set of rails They were spiked at a e, even wider than the ones British trains ran on, Shaw judged He came out of the tunnel into another cavern

But this was not an ordinary cavern This was an immense crypt filled with dead

The red eyes were two lanterns mounted on the rear of a railroad car On the observation platform were two bodies, mummies really, still fully clothed, their blackened skulls staring into the eternal dark