Part 44 (2/2)

”I heard shots. Is it all over?”

But we paid no attention to Burke.

There was Whitney, considerably banged up by the fall, but lucky to be alive.

”I tried to shake him,” he explained, catching sight of Norton. ”But he stuck to us, even on our detours. Finally he grew desperate--forced my car off the road. What happened after that, I don't know. He must have carried me some miles, insensible, and dumped me in the bushes again. I was several miles up the hill, tramping along, looking for a road-house, when this gentleman found me and said I had gone too far.”

Senora de Moche turned from Lockwood and Inez who were standing, oblivious to the rest of us, and stared at Whitney's bruised and battered face.

”It is the curse,” she muttered. ”It will never--”

”Just a moment,” interrupted Craig, drawing the dagger from his pocket, and turning toward Inez. ”It was to your ancestor that the original possessor of the secret promised to give the 'big fish,' when he was killed.”

He paused and handed the dagger to her. She touched it shuddering, but as though it were a duty.

”Take it,” he said simply. ”The secret is yours. Only love can destroy the curse on the Gold of the G.o.ds.”

THE END

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