Finally I crossed the room and removed the cover from the body of
the Child of the Sun. He had recovered consciousness; his little
wicked eyes gleamed up at me with an expression that would have
been terrifying in the intensity of its malignant hatred if he
had not been utterly helpless. I turned to Harry:
"What are we going to do with him?"
"By Jove, I had forgotten!" exclaimed the lad. "Paul, perhaps if
we could communicate with them--" He stopped, glancing at the
closed doorway; then added: "But it's impossible."
"I believe it is possible," I contradicted. "If the Incas were
able to lower that stone at any moment you may be sure they are
prepared to raise it. How, Heaven only knows; but the fact is
certain. Do you think they would have condemned their precious
king to starvation?"
"Then the king can save us!"
"And how?"
"Our lives for his. We'll give him nothing to eat, and if, as
you say, they have some way of watching us, they'll be forced to
negotiate. You can talk with the quipos, and tell them that
unless they give us our freedom and let us go in safety they'll
have a dead king. From the way they seem to worship him they'd
come through in a minute.
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