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within the hour, I was still happier than I had been for weeks--and all because I

had seen again for a few brief minutes the figure of a little heathen maiden. I

couldn't account for it, and it angered me; I had never before felt any such

sensations in the presence of a woman, and I had made love to some very

beautiful ones in my time.

It seemed ages that I stood in the shadow of that doorway, in the ill-lit corridor of

the palace of Menelek XIV. A sickly gas jet cast a sad pallor upon the black face

of the sentry. The fellow seemed rooted to the spot. Evidently he would never

leave, or turn his back again.

I had been in hiding but a short time when I heard the sound of distant cannon.

The truce had ended, and the battle had been resumed. Very shortly thereafter

the earth shook to the explosion of a shell within the city, and from time to time

thereafter other shells burst at no great distance from the palace. The yellow

men were bombarding New Gondar again.

Presently officers and slaves commenced to traverse the corridor on matters

pertaining to their duties, and then came the emperor, scowling and wrathful. He

was followed by a few personal attendants, whom he dismissed at the doorway to

his apartments--the same doorway through which Victory had been taken. I

chafed to follow him, but the corridor was filled with people. At last they betook

themselves to their own apartments, which lay upon either side of the corridor.

An officer and a slave entered the very room in which I hid, forcing me to flatten

myself to one side in the darkness until they had passed. Then the slave made a

light, and I knew that I must find another hiding place.

Stepping boldly into the corridor, I saw that it was now empty save for the single

sentry before the emperor's door. He glanced up as I emerged from the room, the

occupants of which had not seen me. I walked straight toward the soldier, my

mind made up in an instant. I tried to simulate an expression of cringing

servility, and I must have succeeded, for I entirely threw the man off his guard, so

that he permitted me to approach within reach of his rifle before stopping me.

Then it was too late--for him.

Without a word or a warning, I snatched the piece from his grasp, and, at the

same time struck him a terrific blow between the eyes with my clenched fist. He

staggered back in surprise, too dumbfounded even to cry out, and then I clubbed

his rifle and felled him with a single mighty blow.

A moment later, I had burst into the room beyond. It was empty!

The Lost Continent