Our friend the king thought us dead, and we wanted no witnesses
that we had returned to life. We laid hold of the unconscious
bodies, dragged them to the edge of the lake, and pushed them in.
The shock of the cold water brought one of them to life, and he
started to swim, and we--well, we did what had to be done.
We had our spears. I examined them curiously.
The head appeared to be of copper and the shaft was a long, thin
rod of the same material. But when I tried it against a stone and
saw its hardness I found that it was much less soft, and
consequently more effective, than copper would have been. That
those underground savages had succeeded in combining metals was
incredible, but there was the evidence; and, besides, it may have
been a trick of nature herself.
The point was some six inches long and very sharp. It was set on
the shaft in a wedge, and bound with thin, tough strips of hide.
Altogether, a weapon not to be laughed at.
We carried the spears, the raft, and the oars behind a large
boulder to the left of the ledge with considerable difficulty.
The two latter not because we expected them to be of any service,
but in order not to leave any trace of our presence, for if any
searchers came and found nothing they could know nothing.
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