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Stout, Rex, 1886-1975

"Under the Andes"

"
His logic was beyond me, but I pressed his hand to let him know
that I understood.
"And now, old man, you might as well leave me. This is the end.
You've been a good sport. We made a fight, didn't we? If only
Desiree--but there! To Hades with women, I say!"
"Not that--don't be a poor loser, Hal. And you're not gone yet.
When a man has enough fight in him to beat out an attack of fever
he's very much alive."
But he would not have it so. I let him talk, and he rambled on,
with scarcely an idea of what he was saying. The old days
possessed his mind, and, to tell the truth, the sentiment found a
welcome in my own bosom. I said to myself, "This is death."
And then, lifting my head to look down the dark passage that led
away before us, I sprang to my feet with a shout and stood
transfixed with astonishment. And the next instant there came a
cry of wonder from Harry:
"A light! By all the gods, a light!"
So it was. The passage lay straight for perhaps three hundred
yards. There it turned abruptly; and the corner thus formed was
one blaze of flickering but brilliant light which flowed in from
the hidden corridor.


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