I paused, aware all at once of an intense drowsiness. O'Keefe, yawning, reached down to unfasten his puttees. "Lord, I'm sleepy!" he exclaimed. "Can't understand it--what you say--most--interesting--Lord!" he yawned again; straightened. "What made Reddy take such a shine to the Russian?" he asked. "Thanaroa," I answered, fighting to keep my eyes open. "What?" "When Lugur spoke that name I saw Marakinoff signal him. Thanaroa is, I suspect, the original form of the name of Tangaroa, the greatest god of the Polynesians. There's a secret cult to him in the islands. Marakinoff may belong to it--he knows it anyway. Lugur recognized the signal and despite his surprise answered it." "So he gave him the high sign, eh?" mused Larry. "How could they both know it?" "The cult is a very ancient one. Undoubtedly it had its origin in the dim beginnings before these people migrated here," I replied. "It's a link--one--of the few links between up there and the lost past--" "Trouble then," mumbled Larry. "Hell brewing! I smell it--Say, Doc, is this sleepiness natural? Wonder where my--gas mask--is--" he added, half incoherently. But I myself was struggling desperately against the drugged slumber pressing down upon me. "Lakla!" I heard O'Keefe murmur. "Lakla of the golden eyes--no Eilidh--the Fair!" He made an immense effort, half raised himself, grinned faintly. "Thought this was paradise when I first saw it, Doc," he sighed. "But I know now, if it is, No-Man's Land was the greatest place on earth for a honeymoon. They--they've got us, Doc--" He sank back. "Good luck, old boy, wherever you're going." His hand waved feebly. "Glad--knew--you. Hope--see--you--'gain--" His voice trailed into silence. Fighting, fighting with every fibre of brain and nerve against the sleep, I felt myself being steadily overcome. Yet before oblivion rushed down upon me I seemed to see upon the grey-screened wall nearest the Irishman an oval of rosy light begin to glow; watched, as my falling lids inexorably fell, a flame-tipped shadow waver on it; thicken; condense--and there looking down upon Larry, her eyes great golden stars in which intensest curiosity and shy tenderness struggled, sweet mouth half smiling, was the girl of the Moon Pool's Chamber, the girl whom the green dwarf had named--Lakla: the vision Larry had invoked before that sleep which I could no longer deny had claimed him-- Closer she came--closer---the eyes were over us. Then oblivion indeed! CHAPTER XVI Yolara of Muria vs. the O'Keefe