however, that he needed to allay his suspicions. It was Long Sin,
breathless.

Wu stepped out beside him so quietly that even the acute Long Sin
did not hear. "Well?" he said in a guttural tone.

Long Sin drew back in fear. "I have failed, oh master," he replied
in an imploring tone. "Even now they follow my tracks."

It was bad enough to confess defeat without the fear of capture.

Wu frowned. "We must work quickly, then," he muttered.

He picked up a dark lantern near-by, indicating another to Long
Sin. They entered the cave, flashing the lights ahead of them.

"Be careful," ordered Wu, proceeding gingerly from one stepping-
stone to another. "We shall be followed no further than this."

He paused a moment and pointed his finger at the earth.
Everywhere, except here and there where a stone projected, was a
sticky, slimy substance. It was an old trick of primitive races.

"Bird lime," hissed Wu, pointing at the viscid substance made of
the juice of the holly bark, extracted by boiling, and mixed with
a third part of nut oil and grease.

They passed on from stone to stone until they came to the
subterranean chamber itself. Without a moment's hesitation, Wu
made his way toward the rock in which they had found the slot with