"I tell you it came to me like a cold shock and turned me faint and giddy. As I glanced at my companion I saw that he was ghastly as myself. What use was life to us under such conditions! And the fiends were equal to the cruelty of getting us to consent to this operation and then detaining us afterwards. We should be a mockery among them and a warning to others. "There was no reason to discuss this defined cruelty, this vile offer. We glanced at each other and shook our heads. Far better death than this. We knew how to die; we could have drawn our revolvers and shot each other then and there. But we did not. While there was life there was hope." CHAPTER XL THE IRON CAGE Tchigorsky made a long pause before he resumed his story. His nerves appeared to require composing. It was impossible to shake off the horror of the past. At length he went on again. "I saw the cruel light flame into the eyes of the princess; I saw that she was pleased and yet sorry to learn our decision. She gave a sign and we were brought nearer to her. "'You understand what your refusal means!' she said. 'You have been here long enough to know how carefully our secrets are guarded and also how we punish those who try to read them. Where are those scripts?' "We had no scripts and I said so. As a matter of fact, such formulæ and papers as we had managed to become possessed of had been smuggled beyond Lassa to Ralph Ravenspur's servant, Elphick, who had conveyed them to a place of safety. But my statement was without effect. "'Strip them,' she said, 'and put them in the baths.' "We were going to learn then what those cages were for. "There is no need to remove our clothing,' I cried. 'We will do it ourselves!' "I was afraid our revolvers should be discovered, or the cartridges be rendered useless by immersion. Ralph seemed to understand, for, like myself, he quickly discarded his robes and slippers and professed himself to be ready. "Then the grating was raised and we were placed on our back in a shallow bath formed in the shape of a coffin, and not more than ten inches deep. As first the baths were empty, but gradually they were filled with water until we had to raise our faces and press them against the bars to breathe. I thought that we were to be suffocated in this shallow water--a dreadful idea that filled me with stifling anxiety--but there was worse to come." Again Tchigorsky paused and wiped his brow. "The suspense was torture; the terrible uncertainty of what was going to happen was agony. Imagine being drowned with a bare half-inch of water over your lips and nostrils. I turned my head a fraction of an inch on one side, and then I saw that the water could not rise quite high enough to drown me without overflowing the edge of the bath. Evidently this was but the first chapter in the book of lessons. We could breathe by placing our faces against the bar. What next?