Part 12 (2/2)
This action of his appeared to awake ation Perhaps some ancient prophecy was concerned--I do not know At any rate, one of the priests shouted soan to talk at once Then, stooping down, they threater from the lake over themselves and rubbed its sand and enuflexions toward the mountain in the middle, after which they turned and departed
”Don't you think we had better go back?” asked Bastin ”Evidentlybeneath the light of Truth”
”Oh! by all means,” replied Bickley with sarcasm; ”for then their spears will touch us, and our bodies will soon beabove the fires of that pit”
”Perhaps you are right,” said Bastin; ”at least, I admit that you have made matters very difficult by your unjustifiable homicide of that priest who I do not think meant to injure you seriously, and really was not at all a bad fellow, though opinionated in some ways Also, I do not suppose that anybody is expected, as it were, to run his head into the martyr's crown When it settles there of itself it is another ed Bickley
”Yes, if you like to put it that way, though the simile seems a very poor one; like a sunbeaave ith his paddle so vigorously that the canoe was as nearly as possible upset into the lake
In due course we reached the flat Rock of Offerings, which proved to be quite as wide as a double croquet lawn andto certain knobs on the edge of the rock at a spot where a curved projecting point made a little harbour
Bickley examined them, and answered:
”I should say that they are the re-posts worn down by many thousands of years of weather Yes, look, there is the cut of the cables upon the base of that one, and very big cables they must have been”
We stared at one another--that is, Bickley and I did, for Bastin was still engaged in conte the blackened head of the God which he had overthrown
Chapter IX The Island in the Lake
We reat rock, to perceive that it was really a peninsula That is to say, it was joined to the main land of the lake island by a broad roadway quite fifty yards across, which appeared to end in the mouth of the cave On this causee noted a very rerooves separated by an exact distance of nine feet which ran into the mouth of the cave and vanished there
”Explain!” said Bickley
”Paths,” I said, ”worn by countless feet walking on them for thousands of years”
”You should cultivate the art of observation, Arbuthnot What do you say, Bastin?”
He stared at the grooves through his spectacles, and replied:
”I don't say anything, except that I can't see anybody to make paths here Indeed, the place seems quite unpopulated, and all the Orofenans told me that they never landed on it because if they did they would die
It is a part of their superstitious nonsense If you have any idea in your head you had better tell us quickly before we breakfast I ary”
”You always are,” reht have been affected Well, I think that this great plateau was once a landing-place for flying e”
Bastin stared at him
”Don't you think we had better breakfast?” he said ”There are two roast pigs in that canoe, and lots of other food, enough to last us a week, I should say Of course, I understand that the blood you have shed has thrown you off your balance I believe it has that effect, except on theo by the brothers Wright in Aret that I did not leave you to take part in another breakfast yonder--I mean as the principal dish”
”It was Providence, not you, who prevented it, Bickley, doubtless because I alorious end”
”Then it is lucky that Providence is a good shot with a pistol Stop talking nonsense and listen If those were paths worn by feet they would run to the edge of the rock They do not They begin there in that gentle depression and slope upwards soe, lit in the depression, possibly as a bird does, and then ran on wheels or sledge skids along the grooves to the air-shed in the mountain Come to the cave and you will see”