The man left at the angle of the cliff to watch and wait for news from the temple moved farther around the bend and stood leaning against the cliff, listening. Sam moved softly up behind him. The rattling of a pebble betrayed the young man’s presence, and his hands upon the throat of the other alone prevented an outcry which would have brought Felix, and perhaps several of the savages, to the scene.
It was a desperate, wordless, almost noiseless, struggle that ensued. The young man’s muscles, thanks to months of mountain exercise and freedom from stimulants and narcotics, were hard as iron, while those of his opponent seemed flabby and out of condition, doubtless because of too soft living in the immediate past.
The contest, therefore, was not of long duration. Realizing that he was about to lapse into unconsciousness, Sam’s opponent threw out his hands in token of surrender. The young man deftly searched the fellow’s person for weapons and then drew him to his feet.
“Now,” he said, presenting his automatic to the fellow’s breast, “if you utter a word or signal calculated to bring you help, that help will come too late, even if it is only one instant away. At the first sound or indication of resistance, I’ll put half a clip of bullets through your heart!”
“You have the victory!” exclaimed the other sullenly.
“Move along toward the temple!” demanded Sam.
“It is not for me to go there!” was the reply.
“And I’ll walk along behind you,” Sam went on, “and see that you have a ballast of bullets if any treachery is attempted.”
“It is forbidden me to go to the temple to-night,” the other answered, “but, under the circumstances, I go!”
Fearful that Felix might return at any moment, or that the savages, enraged beyond control, might break away in the direction of the temple, Sam pushed the fellow along as rapidly as possible, and the two soon came to the great entrance of that which, centuries before, had been a sacred edifice. The fellow shuddered as he stepped into the musty interior.
“And now,” Sam began, motioning his captive toward the chamber where the bunks and provisions had been discovered, “tell me about this trap which was set to-night for my chums.”
“That is false,” replied Sam. “I overheard the conversation you had with Felix before the outbreak of the savages.”