In the tiger's lair

by Leo E. Miller

Food of excellent quality and in abundance was brought the two by the guards. Soncco was responsible for that, they felt sure. They were also permitted to walk around the outside of their tent. A double row of soldiers, well armed, formed a compact circle around them, and not more than twenty paces away. They watched every movement of the prisoners and held their spears ready for instant action.

As they strolled about they could not help but see that preparations for the awful event had begun on all sides of them. They had frequent glimpses of Soncco hobbling from one group of workers to another, giving sharp orders, reprimanding, and directing their labors in general.

Here, a furnace was being built in which to heat the spear with which to blind Toparca. The workers had piled up two rows of stones and were covering them with mud. After that other stones were placed across the top and plastered down with more mud so that no heat could escape from the interior of the oven-like structure.

A short distance away was the enormous earthenware caldron; menials in a steady stream were bringing oil in small vessels and pouring it into the huge container. Ted and Stanley did not envy Huascar the fate that awaited him.

The stones that were intended for Tupichi lay in a neat heap. They were the size of apples, and were round and smooth, having been gathered from the river-bed.

Then their eyes met another sight that made them shudder. On the far end of an open, arena-like plot masons were constructing a short wall. The stones were being dragged to the spot by long lines of men. As the work progressed, earth was banked up against the structure and tamped down to form an inclined plane up which other stones could be hauled into position on top of the last layer of the wall. The ingenuity displayed would have been interesting to the Americans had they not known the sinister meaning of the work. It was against this wall that they were to be chained, with the deadly snakes at their feet. Copper rings on long spikes had been incorporated in the wall between the stones to receive the chains that would hold them in their helpless, hopeless position.

After surveying the various activities for a short time they went back into their prison tent.

“One of us will have to accompany Soncco to-night,” Stanley announced when they were inside, “to see that the dynamite is placed where it will do the most damage.”

“I will go,” Ted volunteered, “but I doubt if I can get past the guards, even in the company of Soncco. The soldiers get their orders higher up.”

“That is why I asked him to bring along some one he trusts absolutely. That one must change clothes with one of us and remain here while the work is being done. Perhaps I had better go.”