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were ready to enter the opening: a
‘With Van at their head they, pushed inside.
It was as dark as the, grave itself, and they felt the
Tn less than two mifutes this -was done, and all four |
- ~. and he came.to the conclusion that it must be a.gang of:
need of a torch to light them-on their way through the’
unknown -place. oe Tye UNG
Dr. Pestle had enough oil left in a bottle to ‘saturate'a
piece of his coat, and when this was twisted into a com- .
pact mass it-was lighted. . : ea
~The doctor walked by the side.of Van, with his im- .
provised torch, which served its purpose, well enough.”
When they had. traversed, a. distance* of :probably two
~ hundred yards, they found they did not need any light.
Before them they beheld.a vast cavern of a, circular °
shape. oe 7
In many places upon the ground small fires were burn-
ing, and’ these furnished enough light for them .to see
where they were’ going.’ Around the fires could be seen
groups of the dwarfs, who were, by the way, the strangest
people any of our friends had ever seen.
. They wore short skirts, which seemed to be made of
some sort of leather, the rest of their bodies being bare.
The tallest of them could not have been over three
fect six inches in height, but they seemed to be, very
powerful, for all that. SO
Bows and arrows and clubs were the only weapons they
- possessed, and as Van and his three companions gazed
upon them from their point of observation, they reckoned
that they could clean out the place if they tried very
hard. - a . settee
Burt they were doomed to be badly mistaken in. their
idea, : ~ tags
’ The dwarfs, who were a race of cave dwellers, stip
posed by the world at large to be extinct, were about
os bloadthirsty and determined as any savage who ever
drew the breath of life. wot hers
Van had just suggested that they move forward to
trv and find their two missing friends, when they were
startled to-hear the sound of footsteps approaching from
the way they entered the place. : .
They had scarcely turned. around when they beheld
Doe Clancy-and his partner running toward them with
all their might, a perfect horde ofthe dwarfs at their
heels. .
CHAPTER XII.
A HORRIBLE FATE.
We must now turn our attention to Jack Howard and
the boy, Joe, and see what became of them.
The pair were half stunned from the fall from their
horses, and before they could collect their scattered senses
they had a vague idea of being picked up and carried
away. a
Jack was the first to recover the full use of his faculties,
and, when he did so he found himself in Stygian dark-
ness.
~ A dozen pairs of arms were clasped abont his body, it
seemed, and he was being whisked swiftly along in a
direction that was unknown to him.
Neither he nor Joe had as yet seen what sort of looking
fellows their captors were, so, of course, they had not
the remotest idea as to who were carrying them off.
‘down near the mouth of the cave a
. you free then; and we w
_Savages and run for it.”
BRAVE AND BOLD.~
Jack heard a series of doglike-noises all around: him,
some -mysterious -animals who: were: carrying: him to
their den. vise -
The brave young Englishman determined to.make a.
desperate effort to escape from' them. . ’ woh
‘Exerting all his strength,:he strove to free himself. .:
But he soon found it to be utterly useless. The more
he struggled, the tighter the clutch became about’ his
body. : yas
And Joe!
frightened at his mysterious capture that he fainted:
_Ina very few minutes Jack beheld a light ahead of
him, and in a short space of time he was able to see about
him fairly well. ae °
When he found that his captors were such little fellows,
he again made a wild effort to free himself.
‘But, as before, it was of no avail... ‘ fey
Jack concluded not to waste his strength any: further
but to wait fora more fitting opportunity. :
About ten minutes after he reached this conclusion,
the dwarfs came to a halt, and he was deposited upon the
ground. me : :
But before he was allowed to rise to his feet his hands
were securely tied behind him. .. :
Joe, who had not yet recovered from his faint, was also
securely bound.
Jack found that he was in a small cave, which appeared
to be situated in a vast cavern:
: : . . .
In fr ont of its openin a fire Ww T com round
g as bu ning, and a
this those who had brought him there were seated.
. pe young man soon saw that the cave was reserved
solely for the use of Joe and himself, for the ‘dwarfs
all ‘remained outside near the-fire. ~ :
Knowing it was useless to attempt to escape Jack sat
nd i
to see what they were doing.. watched his captors
In a fe r minutes J € cam 1 re xt to the
Ww 0 ame to
att h mself; and crep
Jack’ explained their situation as best he could, and
'then said:
“There is one thing in o :
g§ in our favor, and that is the
pavent taken our weapons from us ; [ want you to crawl
be in me, Joe, and see if you can’t gnaw loose the bonds
at hold my hands together. If you'can do it I will set
ill: then open fire on these little
“All right,” replied the boy “ry
» Te v, do my best.”
hing “itch he fen rr ad began the task allotted to
; wo i
which bound them were of Ieathen one, as the thongs
Meanwhile the dwarf.
Hil 1 s, who had evidentl i
c 2 v been holdin
arose t0 the fet sel tea, (Osi Prisoners ste
an @ . 2? ;
their queer language. vee Seg @ weird: chant im
TI hu th
sts nee ers ame sing th
Ime it seem ougl €
mst be fully five hundred congregated ou
ne noise they made w "
mournful, and reminded Jae Rot so very loud, but it was
k :
“What do you suppo thoy a howling of a dos.
noise for?” whispered J
oe. ? . . .
for a moment, , resting from his gnawing tas
The delicate, little fellow. was so- badly:
se they are making that awful.
gh ee