Part 35 (2/2)
We stopped short, gazing about us
”It looks like--” Harry whispered, and then exclaimed: ”It is! See, here is where we took the blocks from this seat!”
So it was We were in the roo and where we ourselves had been imprisoned with Desiree
”She said her rooht of this,” whispered Harry excitedly ”What luck! If only--”
He left the sentence unfinished, but I understood his fear And withDesiree, and was sorry, for Harry's sake, that we had been so far successful
Again we sought the passage A little farther on it was crossed by another, running at right angles in both directions But to the right there was nothing but darkness, and we turned to the left, where, so from a doorway similar to the one we had just left
We went rapidly, but our feet ranite floor Still ere incautious, and it was purely by luck that I glanced ahead and discovered that which ainst the wall
”What is it?” he whispered
In silence I pointed with e ahead of us, just without the patch of light fro They made no movement; ere as yet undiscovered They were about a hundred feet away from where we stood
”Then she's here!” whispered Harry ”They are on guard”
I nodded; I had had the saht
There was no tilance in our direction they were certain to see us I whispered hastily and briefly to Harry He nodded
The next instant ere advancing slowly and noiselessly, hugging the wall We carried our spears ready, though we did not mean to use them, for a miss would havewithin myself, al us squarely, and gave a start of surprise We leaped forward
Half a dozen bounds and ere upon theer or ht us by the Incas theripped their throats and bore them to the floor
No time then for the decencies; we had work to do, and we crushed and pounded their lives out against the stone floor There had not been a sound They quivered and lay still; and then, looking up at soht sound in the door Desiree
She stood in the doorway, regarding us with an expression of terror that I did not at first understand; then suddenly I realized that, having seen us disappear beneath the surface of the take after our dive froht us dead
”Bon Dieu!” she exclaimed in a hollow voice of horror ”This, too! Do you come, messieurs?”
”For you,” I answered ”We are flesh and bone, Desiree, though in ill repair We have come for you”
”Paul! Harry, is it really you?”
Belief crept into her eyes, but nothingto her side; she did not move as he embraced her
”Are you alone?”
”Yes”
”Good Here, Harry--quick! Help me Stand aside, Desiree”
We carried the bodies of the two Incas within the rooht the spears, which we had dropped e attacked the Incas Desiree stood just within the doorway, seely half dazed