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Stout, Rex, 1886-1975

"Under the Andes"

"
"Personally, yes. If I were here alone, Hal"--I picked up one of
the spears and passed my palm over its sharp point--"I would quit
cold. But not--not with you. I can't share your enthusiasm, but
I'll go fifty-fifty on the rest of it, including the fender--
when we see it."
"That's the talk, old man. I knew you would."
"But understand me. I expect nothing. It's all rot. If by any
wild chance we should pull out in the end I'll admit you were
right. But I eat under compulsion, and I fight for you. You're
the leader unless you ask my advice."
"And I begin right now," said Harry with a grin. "First, to get
Desiree. What about it?"
We discussed plans all the way from the impossible to the
miraculous and arrived nowhere. One thing only we decided--that
before we tried to find our way back to the great cavern and the
royal apartments we would lay in a supply of food and cache it
among the boulders and ledges where we then were. For if ever a
place were designed for a successful defense by two men against
thousands it was that one. And we had the spears.
Still no one had appeared in the cavern, and we decided to wait
no longer.


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