Part 40 (2/2)

Harry sprang forward in ti on the rock and knelt with his ar, not even water, hich to revive her; he called her naly

Soon her eyes opened; she raised her hand and passed it across her broonderingly

”God help me!” she murmured in a low voice, eloquent of distress and pain

Then she pushed Harry aside and rose slowly to her feet, refusing his assistance

”In the na to me

”We have found the devil at last,” I answered, with an atteh, which sounded hollow in , except that she had felt herself drawn forward by solittering eyes She was bewildered and stunned and unable to talk coherently We assisted her to the wall, and she sat there with her back propped against it, breathing heavily from the exhaustion of terror

”We

I understood hier could not have stayed hi which roamed about the cavern, dark as darkness itself and possessed of soh to make him pause For myself it was impossible; I was barely able to stand So Harry went off alone in search of water and I stayed with Desiree

It was perhaps half an hour before he returned, and ere shaken with fear for hi before he appeared When he did so it ith a white face and tre limbs, in spite of his evident effort at steadiness

”There is water over there,” said he, pointing across the cavern ”A stream runs across the corner and disappears beneath the wall There is nothing to carry it in You must come with me”

”What has happened?” I asked, for even his voice was unsteady

”I saw it,” he replied sih in those three words to cause a shudder to run through ht not hear, he toldhad confronted hi the opposite wall, and that he, too, had been drawn forward, as it were, by a spell impossible to shake off He had tried to cry aloud, but had been unable to utter a sound And suddenly, as before, the eyes had disappeared, leaving him barely able to stand

”No wonder the Incas wouldn't follow us in here,” he finished ”We o through that again for my life”

”You take Desiree,” said I ”I want that water”

He led us around the wall several hundred feet The ground was level and clear of obstruction; but ent slowly, for I could scarcely move Harry kept his eyes strained intently on all sides; his experience had left hi to ad water, and a minute later we reached the strea to be done seemed to infuse a new spirit into Desiree, and soon her deft fingers were bathingthem as well as her poor material would allow

The cold water took the heat fro veins and left me almost comfortable Harry had come off much easier than I, since I had so often sent hiht up the rear and withstood the brunt of the attack

As Harry had said, the strea beneath the opposite wall, forle bound by two sides of the cavern and the stream itself I saw plainly that it would be impossible for me to le appeared to offer the safest and most comfortable retreat

I spoke to Harry, and he waded across the stream to try its depth

From the other side he called that the water was at no point h, and Desiree and I started to cross; but about the middle I felt the current about to sweep me off my feet Harry waded in and helped me ashore

On that hard rock we lay for many weary hours We had no food; but for that I would soon have been h my wounds were numerous, they were little ash onnourishment, I improved but slowly, and only the cold water kept the fever from me

Twice Harry went out in search of food and of an exit from the cavern