We expected them to arrive at any moment, and we waited for
hours. We had about given up watching from our vantage point
behind the boulder when two Incas appeared at the mouth of the
passage. But they brought only oil to fill the urns, and after
performing this duty departed, without a glance at the lake or
any exhibition of surprise at the absence of their fellows.
Every now and then there was a commotion in some part of the
lake, and we could occasionally see a black, glistening body leap
into the air and fall again into the water.
"I'm hungry," Harry announced suddenly. "I wonder if we couldn't
turn the trick on that raft ourselves?"
The same thought had occurred to me, but Harry's impulsiveness
had made me fearful of expressing it. I hesitated.
"We've got to do something," he continued.
I suggested that it might be best to wait another hour or two.
"And why? Now is as good a time as any. If we intend to find
Desiree--"
"In the name of Heaven, how can we?" I interrupted.
"You don't mean to say you don't intend to try?" he exclaimed.
"Hal, I don't know. In the first place, it's impossible. And
where could we take her and what could we do--in short, what's
the use? Why the deuce should we prolong the thing any further?
"In the world I refused to struggle because nothing tempted me;
in this infernal hole I have fought when there was nothing to
fight for.
Pages:
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244