Dennis Wheatley - They Found Atlantis

'I am certain,' she insisted. 'I hear with my mind which is more delicately attuned than any human ear. They are coming after us. The soft padding of their naked feet comes quite clearly to me.'

'All right!' he said. 'We'd best move on again.'

After a further mile of uphill going the tunnel ended in another chamber.

'For God's sake stop,' gasped Nicky as they entered it; 'the pace you set is frightful. We can outdistance those brutes if they come up just as we did before. Let's take a breather now.'

The McKay knew that from fear of what lay behind them they must have walked the last lap at nearly five miles an hour in spite of the gradient. Sally was panting heavily beside him and Camilla in his rear. Of the women only Lulluma seemed unaffected. Common sense told him that he had got to suit the pace to the weakest members of the party. Reluctantly he halted and announced, 'Very well then, well take a spell.'

They sat down on the rocky floor and endeavoured to 340

control their laboured breaching but, before the ten minutes were up they were spurred on again.

Faint, almost imperceptible at first, yet gradually quite clearly they heard the steady pad—pad—pad of running feet approaching up the tunnel they had just traversed.

The flickering torches showed that the cavern they were now in had many entrances but Lulluma did not hesitate a moment. With Axel beside her she dived into one and almost unconsciously they all broke from a quick walk: into a trot, as they followed.

The floor sloped upward again and it was heavy going. Nicky puffed and laboured in their rear in spite of his boasted fitness.

Another mile, or perhaps two, for they could only judge the distances roughly, was covered, and the sound of following footsteps had died away when Lulluma suddenly exclaimed:

'Be careful—we are approaching another earth rift.'

They dropped back into a rapid walk and, within a few yards, found that her peculiar gifts of judging direction and determining localities in the darkness from her memory of the mine plan, had not deceived her. A crevasse opened up before them.

This time it had no steps to descend in order to reach a continuation of the tunnel lower down. That gaped opposite to them, open and black in the beam of the torches.

In past centuries a bridge of stones had perhaps spanned the chasm but, if so, it had fallen away. The gulf yawned wide and deep at their feet.

'We've got to jump it,' declared the McKay. 'It's not much over two yards—a child could do it.'

He was not far out in his estimate but eight feet is a lot when a slip means being dashed to death in a fathomless pit shrouded by darkness.

'Give us a lead Sally me'dear!' To ask her to go first was perhaps the most courageous thing he had ever done, but he knew that he had got to get the women over somehow and not even Vladimir could have carried their weight as well as his own in such a jump.

'Stand back,' gasped Sally, 'and I'll do it!'

She took a run. The McKay's heart seemed to rise and choke his throat, while others focused their torches on the opposite edge. Sally sprang high in the air, and landed a good four feet clear over the gap, barking her knees on the hard rock as she fell but in an ample margin of safety.

'Bravo 1' called Axel, 'now the next; Luiluma darling you could jump twice that distance easily.'

Without a word Lullurna took a flying leap and landed on the further brink, where Sally pulled her to her feet.

Camilla had one of the torches and, in flashing it round, noticed a jutting snag of rock waist high in the tunnel wall at their side. She swung out on it as Luiluma reached the other brink and next moment she was over.

Axel and the McKay followed. Only Vladimir and Nicky were left, the latter goggling at the crevasse in horror.

The Prince caught a glimpse of Nicky's face in the wavering torchlight. 'Now Public Cad Number one, do you jump or do I kick you,' he said with grim delight.

'I—I can't,' stuttered Nicky. 'I'm weighted down—the stuff I'm carrying is so heavy.'

'What stuff?' snapped the McKay from the further side.

'Food and—and when I overheard Axel talking to Luiluma of a chance to get away I—I took a few souvenirs.'

'Souvenirs I' the biting contempt in the McKay's voice cut the darkness like a whip, but Vladimir had seized Nicky again and thrust a hand into his coat pocket.

As he pulled it out the torchlight showed the dull gleam of gold between his fingers. Then as he opened them they saw in his palm a lump of the rich metal encrusted with precious stones.

'So that's where he disappeared to just before we left,' Axel exclaimed angrily. 'The dirty little thief was busy robbing the temple.'

Vladimir hurled the gem studded piece of gold down into the abyss then he grabbed Nicky by the scruff of the neck.

'Do you go over dog-cur—or do I hurl you after your loot with one great tossing?'

Nicky wrenched himself free and leapt. He landed heavily on the further edge. The McKay jerked him to his feet and shook him.

'If you've got any more of that stuff you'd better get rid of it. You'll be caught for certain if you lag behind—and gold weighs mighty heavy.'

'Don't I know it,' Nicky panted, and obediently pro-342

ducing four more pieces from various pockets, he dropped them down the shaft.

Vladimir had crossed at a bound but clearing the gulf and the altercation with Nicky had lost them precious precious moments. As they started off they could all hear again that stealthy patter made by the herd that followed in their rear.

The going was harder than ever now since the gradient was still steeper but the McKay encouraged them as they ran by panting: 'we're safe from those brutes now. They'll never be able to cross that chasm.'

'Won't they,' gasped Camilla a moment later. 'They will —if they find that snag of rock—by which—I swung myself over.'

'Courage,' cried Lulluma in a low voice. 'Have courage. We are not far now from the place where the tunnel is blocked—if we can only get through that....'

Another hundred yards and they reached it. The roof had fallen in and a heap of great stones barred further progress.

'Show all your lights,' cried the McKay and he began to make a quick examination.

One large rock supported many others; there was a space beneath it but only a child could have wriggled through.

'That's the fellow we've got to shift,' he said. 'Then we can only pray to God that there are not others like it further on.'

'Will you use both bombs?' asked Axel.

'No, one should be enough to smash this up. If I keep the other it means one more chance of getting through.'

While the women held the lights the McKay placed the bomb and adjusted its detonator. The rest gathered all the scattered rocks they could lay their hands on and piled them round the opening to concentrate the force of the explosion.

'Now! back you go—all of you,' rapped out the McKay. 'A hundred yards at least. I'll be with you in a moment.'

They had scarcely covered the distance when he came racing towards them.

As he clutched at Sally a blinding flame leapt out of the darkness. There was a thunderous roar which echoed down

the tunnel for minutes afterwards punctuated by the clink

and thud of falling stones.

On the McKay's word they dashed forward again. The big rock was shattered but its splintering had brought down all the smaller stuff from above and a great heap of debris now faced them.

Without a moments delay they attacked the barrier, hurling the loose metal behind them. The task seemed endless but after half an hour a hole eight feet deep had been made below the larger rocks which were still jammed above.

'You must be quick,' announced Lulluma tremulously. 'The beast men were scared by the explosion, but they have recovered now and are crossing the chasm by the spur— one by one. I can hear their twittering as they mass on this side before advancing.'