The two friends acted upon the hints thus given; and, drawing their knives and joining hands, Gerald went boldly down the steps and seized hold of the young prince just as he was being drawn completely under the water. The task of setting him free, however, proved a tougher one than they had expected. The clinging leaves, as though directed by some dreadful, sinister intelligence, closed upon Gerald’s extended arm, and, exercising a strength and tenacity which had about it something almost superhuman, endeavoured to drag him in too. A terrible struggle for dear life ensued between the three, on the one side, and the horrible, silent power which they had to fight against, on the other. Gerald managed to free one of Alondra’s arms, and gave him his own knife, taking Jack’s in place of it. The two then hacked and slashed at the slimy, slippery, but wonderfully tough leaves. As fast as they cut themselves free from some, others laid hold of them; and it seemed at one time as though all three would be dragged bodily into the water. Just then Jack caught sight of a coil of strong rope lying upon the floor in a corner, and he made a dart and possessed himself of it. In a trice he had passed one end to Gerald, and secured the other round one of the columns supporting the roof. Gerald, in his turn, managed to slip the end round Alondra and pass it back to Jack, who caught hold of it, and, standing himself on the steps out of reach, hauled with all his might. This enabled the two who were struggling in the water—for by this time Gerald had also been drawn in—to use both hands. Little by little, step by step, they struggled backwards, until at last they reached the water’s edge and were free. Panting and exhausted, the three sat down on a low marble balustrade, and looked first at the pool, then at one another. Then they stared once more at the treacherous pool, where all now was silent and still, save for the bubbling and splashing of the water as it fell from the fountain. ’Jupiter!’ cried Jack at last. ’Of all the awful death-traps I ever saw or heard of, commend me to this! A horrible death pool! But what in the name of all that is fiendish is that awful plant?’ ’It’s some kind of cannibal plant, I suppose,’ said Gerald. ’Yes, that is right,’ Alondra agreed. ’I have heard there are such plants on our globe in some remote corners, but I have never seen one before.’ ’What does anybody want to keep such a monstrous, uncanny affair for?’ queried Jack indignantly. ’I never heard that they grew to such a size,’ Alondra added. ’This must have been growing here many years to become so large, I should say.’ ’A nice sort of pet to cultivate and pamper!’ Jack grumbled. ’What do they feed it on, I wonder? Such a thing ought not to be allowed! It’s a public danger!’ ’There’s a warning on the door,’ Gerald reminded him. ’After all, it’s our own fault, I ’m afraid people will say, for coming here.’