Part 19 (2/2)
”I was afraid you had gone I've just had theso, and there was fire, and--Paul! Paul, was it a dream?”
”No, Hal; I saw it myself But come, we'll talk later Here's some dried fish for breakfast”
”Ah! That--that--now I re--”
But I wanted no more fever or delirium, and I interrupted him sternly:
”Harry! Listen to ht or shut up, and don't whine like a fool If you have any courage, use it”
It was stiff medicine, but he needed it, and it worked There was a silence, then his voice cah:
”You know me better than that, Paul Only--if it were not for Desiree--but I'll s it I think I've been sick, haven't I?”
Poor lad! I wanted to take his hand in ize But that would have been bad for both of us, and I answered siht now And now you must eat and drink Not ”
I carried the platter and basin over to hiether
But he would talk of Desiree, and I huh to say, but he pressed ratefully when I expressed my belief that her disappearance had been a trick of some sort and no matter for apprehension
”We must find her, Paul”
”Yes”
”At once”
But there I objected
”On the contrary, wefast They would handle us like babies if it caht Try yourself; stand up”
He rose to his hands and knees, then sank back to the ground
”You see Tous at this minute--every roan of despair
In some manner the weary hours passed by
Harry lay silent, but not asleep; now and then he would ask et an answer We heard or saw nothing of our captors, for all our senses told us ere quite alone, but our previous experience with theht us better than to believe it
I foundon the character and nature of the tribe of dwarfs
Was it possible that they were really the descendants of the Incas driven from Huanuco by Hernando Pizarro and his horsemen nearly four hundred years before? Even then I was satisfied of it, and I was soon to have that opinion confirmed by conclusive evidence
Other questions presented themselves Why did they not speak? What fuel could they have found in the bowels of the Andes for their vats of fire? And how did sufficient air for ten thousand pairs of lungs find its way round? Why, in the centuries that had passed, had none of them found his way to the world outside?
Some of these questions I answered for myself, others remained unsolved for many e uess that the hidden deposits of the mountain had yielded oil which needed only a spark fro of the geological formation of the Andes will not wonder at their supply of air
Nature is not yet ready for e upheavals and convulsions are of continual occurrence; underground streae on the side of the Pacific slope And air circulates through these passages as well as water