"Hold the lantern higher, Bev--" In the fury of the fight, he remembered

the risk and importance of not mentioning her name, and stopped

short. He was fighting fast but warily, for he realized that his present

adversary was no mean one. As the swords played back and forth in fierce

thrusts and parries, he spoke assuringly to Beverly: "Don't be

frightened! As soon as I finish with this fellow, we will go on! Ah!

Bravo! Well parried, my man! How the deuce could such a swordsman as you

become a cutthroat of Marlanx?"

Beverly had been standing still all this time holding the light high

above her head, according to her lover's orders, for she knew now that

such he was and that she loved him with all her heart. She was a weird

picture standing there as she watched Baldos fighting for their lives,

her beautiful face deathlike in its pallor. Not a cry escaped her lips,

as the sword-blades swished and clashed; she could hear the deep

breathing of the combatants in that tomb-like passage.

Suddenly she started and listened keenly. From behind her, back there in

the darkness, hurried footsteps were unmistakably approaching. What she

had heard, then, was not the scurrying of a rat. Some one was following

them. A terrible anguish seized her. Louder and nearer came the heavy

steps. "Oh, my God! Baldos!" she screamed in terror, "Another is

coming!"

"Have no fear, dear one!" he sung out gaily. His voice was infinitely

more cheerful than he felt, for he realized only too well the desperate

situation; he was penned in and forced to meet an attack from front and

rear. He fell upon his assailant with redoubled fury, aiming to finish

him before the newcomer could give aid.

From out of the gloom came a fiendish laugh. Instantly, the dark figure

of a man appeared, his face completely hidden by a broad slouch hat and

the long cloak which enveloped him. A sardonic voice hissed, "Trapped at

last! My lady and her lover thought to escape, did they!" The voice was

unfamiliar, but the atmosphere seemed charged with Marlanx. "Kill him,

Zem!" he shouted. "Don't let him escape you! I will take care of the

little witch, never fear!" He clutched at the girl and tried to draw her

to him.

"Marlanx! By all the gods!" cried Baldos in despair. He had wounded his

man several times, though not seriously. He dared not turn to Beverly's

aid.

The scene was thrilling, grewsome. Within this narrow, dimly-lighted

underground passage, with its musty walls sweating with dampness and

thick with the tangled meshes of the spider's web, a brave girt and her

lover struggled and fought back to back.

To her dismay, Beverly saw the point of a sword at her throat.

"Out of the way, girl," the man in the cloak snarled, furious at her

resistance. "You die as well as your lover unless you surrender. He

cannot escape me."




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