In a few minutes this floor will be
baking hot. Then we either fry on their stone griddle or drown in
the lake. You see the distance below--only a man crazed by
suffering or one incredibly brave would take that leap. This is
their little entertainment--they expect us to dance for them."
"But the lake! If we could take it clean--"
I saw that the lake was our only chance, if there could be said
to be any in so desperate a situation. To be sure, there seemed
to be no possibility of escaping, even if we took the water
without injury. On every side its bank was lined with the
watching Incas, and the bank itself was so steep that to ascend
it would have required wings.
The heat began to be felt even through the soles of our heavy
boots; involuntarily I lifted one foot, then the other. I saw the
Child of the Sun in the alcove lean forward with an appreciative
grin. Another minute--
I jerked my wits together--never did my brain answer with better
speed. And then I remembered that flash of water I had seen under
the spiral stairway at the base of the column. I had thought at
the time that it might be connected with the lake itself.
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