As the reader has already surmised, they were the footprints of Leo Malvern and Reginald Lacy.
Full of hope now, that her mission would prove successful, Azurma followed the tracks.
She reached the mouth of the passage and was just about to enter it when a warning hiss told her that there was danger ahead.
The girl drew back with a half-smothered cry of alarm.
“The picuasus!” she cried, in her own tongue. “Oh! what shall I do now?”
She hastily withdrew from the mouth of the passage and looked about for a safe place of retreat.
As she did so an immense turtle appeared through the opening, and thrusting a horrible-looking head from its shell, peered around to find the one who had disturbed it.
The moment the creature’s beadlike eyes rested upon Azurma a transformation took place.
From the appearance of a huge turtle, it suddenly changed to a spider of the most gigantic proportions.
Long legs stretched out in every direction, and it began walking toward the poor girl, with its body at least two feet from the ground.