Part 15 (1/2)
”That's capital,” said Bickley, ere out of hearing ”The ene as we like, provisioned from the mainland, and if for any reason ish to leave, be sure of our line of retreat”
”I don't knohat you call capital,” exclaimed Bastin ”It seems to me that all the lies which Arbuthnot has just told are sufficient to bring a judgo back with Marama and explain the truth”
”I never before knew anybody as so anxious to be cooked and eaten,”
remarked Bickley ”Moreover, you are too late, for the canoe is a hundred yards away by now, and you shan't have ours Remember the Pauline , and be all things to all men, and another that is more modern, that when you are at Rome, you must do as the Romans do; also a third, that necessity has no law, and for the matter of that, a fourth, that all is fair in love and war”
”I am sure, Bickley, that Paul never meant his words to bear the debased sense which you attribute to theht a fire--a process at which I pointed out he had shown hiing rock just to one side of the cave, not in the reat place In that soft and balh we lacked blankets And yet, tired though I was, I could not rest as I should have done Bastin snored away contentedly, quite unaffected by his escape which to him was merely an incident in the day's work; and so, too, slumbered Bickley, except that he did not snore But the amazement and the ht be left for us to discover, held me back from sleep
What did it s and seeh I could not interpret the ht I heard actual e quality Soft and low and dreamful, it appeared to well fro in an unknown tongue from the lips of women, or of a woman, multiplied mysteriously by echoes This, however, er there
Presently I dozed off, to be awakened by the sudden sound of a great fish leaping in the lake I sat up and stared, fearing lest it ht be the splash of a paddle, for I could not put from my mind the possibility of attack All I saever, was the low line of the distant shore, and above it the bright and setting stars that heralded the co of the sun Then I woke the others, and ashed and ate, since once the sun rose tith it appeared, splendid in a cloudless sky, and, as I had hoped, directly opposite to theour candles and some stout pieces of drifthich, with our knives, we had shaped on the previous evening to serve us as levers and rough shovels, we entered the cave Bickley and I were filled with excitement and hope of e knew not, but Bastin showed little enthusiases beyond the lake, and of theht ical treasures in the whole earth Still, he ca the blackened head of Oro with him which, with unconscious huht because, as he said, ”it was after all softer than stone” Also, I believe that in his heart he hoped that he er and earlier edition of Oro in the cave, before it was discovered by the natives who ht wish to reater alacrity than I expected, since dogs do not as a rule like dark places When we reached the statue I learned the reason; he remembered the smell he had detected at its base on the previous day, which Bastin supposed to proceed froations
We went straight to the statue, although Bickley passed the half-buried ht of the rising sun fell upon it in a vivid ray, revealing all its wondrous workmanshi+p and the majesty--for no other word describes it--of the sos of the shroud Indeed, I was convinced that originally this monument had been placed here in order that on certain days of the year the sun ht fall upon it thus, when probably worshi+ppers assembled to adore their hallowed symbol After all, this was common in ancient days: witness the instance of the awful Three who sit in the deepest recesses of the teazed our fill, at least Bickley and I did, for Bastin was occupied ina careful comparison between the head of his wooden Oro and that of the statue
”There is no doubt that they are very ? I think it is goingfuriously at the base of the lowest step, as at home I have seen hiy was so reth it seriously attracted our attention Evidently heback to , then returned and sniffed and scratched
Bickley knelt down and s, Hue odour here, a very pleasant odour like that of sandal-wood or attar of roses”
”I never heard of a rat that smelt like sandal-wood or attar of roses,”
said Bastin ”Look out that it isn't a snake”
I knelt down beside Bickley, and in clearing away the deep dust from what seemed to be the bottoht, by accident thrust ainst its base where it rested upon the rocky floor
Next an to turn outwards as though upon a pivot! I saw it co hireat block, which hed several tons, fell down and crushed us Toe of the block caught the tip of his tail and caused hi howl But we did not think of Tommy and his woes; we did not think of our own escape or of anything else because of the round, after our backward tumble, we could see into the space which lay behind the fallen step, for there the light of the sun penetrated
The first idea it gave me was that of the jewelled shrine of soood fortune, had escaped the plunderers; there are still such existing in the world It shone and glittered, apparently with gold and diah, as a old which gleaam, which is now lost to the world, the same that was used in the tubes of the air-old, but I do not know At any rate, it was equally lasting and even hter in colour
For the rest this adorned recess which rese the whole space beneath the base of the statue that was supported on its arch, was e objects that lay side by side but with nearly the whole width of the vault between theer, for really I could not speak
”Coffins, by Jove!” he whispered ”Glass or crystal coffins and people in the into that vault while Bastin, still nursing the head of Oro as though it were a baby, stood confused outside raves
Just as we reached the interior, owing to the heightening of the sun, the light passed away, leaving us in a kind of twilight Bickley produced carriage candles fro so I noticed two things--firstly, that the place really did smell like a scent-shop, and, secondly, that the coffins seeht of their own, not very strong, but sufficient to reveal their outlines in the gloom Then the candles burnt up and
Within the coffin that stood on our left hand as we entered, for this crystal was as transparent as plate glass, lay a , e hair, which was parted in the e of the pearl-sewn and broidered cap he wore, also his beard were snohite The ht, and rather spare His hands were long and thin, very delicately made, as were his sandalled feet