“No,” she replied, “it is a great distance from the crater to Laythe.” We had covered some little distance at this time, possibly five or six miles, and she had scarcely ceased speaking when a turn in the passageway led us into a cave of larger proportions than any through which we had previously passed and from the opposite side of which two passageways diverged. “I thought there were no branches,” I remarked. “I do not understand it,” she said. “There is no branch from the tunnel of Laythe.” “Could it be possible that we are in the wrong tunnel?” I asked, “and that this does not lead to Laythe?” “A moment before I should have been sure that we were in the right tunnel,” she replied, “but now, Julian, I do not know, for never had I heard of any branch of our own tunnel.” We had crossed the cave and were standing between the openings of the two divergent passageways. “Which one shall we take?” I asked, but again she shook her head. “I do not know,” she replied. “Listen!” I cautioned her. “What was that?” For I was sure that I had heard a sound issuing from one of the tunnels. We stood peering into an aperture which revealed about a hundred yards of the passageway before an abrupt turn hid the continuation of it from our view. We could hear what now resolved itself into the faint sound of voices approaching us along the corridor, and then quite suddenly the figure of a man appeared around the corner of the turn. Nah-ee-lah leaped to one side out of sight, drawing me with her. “A Kalkar!” she whispered. “Oh, Julian, if they find us we are lost.” “If there is only one of them I can take care of him,” I said. “There will be more than one,” she replied; “there will be many.” “Then, let us return the way we came and make our way to the top of the crater’s rim before they discover us. We can throw their hooked poles into the crater, including the one which we use to ascend from the mouth of the tunnel, thus effectually preventing any pursuit.” “We cannot cross this room again to the tunnel upon the opposite side without being apprehended,” she replied. “Our only hope is in hiding in this other tunnel until they have passed and trusting to chance that we meet no one within it.” “Come, then,” I said. “I dislike the idea of flying like a scared rabbit, but neither would there be any great wisdom in facing armed men without a single weapon of defense.”