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He had no idea as to where it was possible to take the girl and Sorez, but he hoped that he might come upon a room in the palace here where it would be safe to leave them until it was possible to get out into the city. Perhaps, too, if he reached the entrance, he might find Stubbs.
Her eyes fluttered open, closed, fluttered open again. She roused herself to a sitting posture and the image dropped from her lap. The Priest snatched it up as the girl shrank back from him. For a moment the two stared at each other. The Priest was held motionless. Then as Sorez hitched a bit to one side, he turned to his work. Sorez hoped for nothing but a swift end.
Its eyes caught the moonbeams in its brilliant surfaces, so that it looked more a living thing than she who held it. Facing them, standing bolt upright save when he stooped a trifle to reach forward with his paddle, was Sorez, who might have passed for Charon. His thin frame, his hollow cheeks, the intense look of his burning eyes gave him a ghostly air.
The shadow was now beside the raft. The shadow was now behind Sorez. The shadow placed one foot upon the raft, but it paused there a moment at the cry which brought Sorez also to attention. "Father!" screamed the girl. "Father!" Sorez stared straight ahead of him in a frenzy. Then the shadow sprang, throwing his arms about the tall figure. Without a cry Sorez sank under him.
He felt a lump in his throat as, with his whole heart in the action, he in his turn reached towards her. Strange Fishing Yes, her arms were extended towards him. The fact made the world swim before his eyes. Then he thought of Sorez and it was well Sorez was not within reach of him.
Wilson did not dare tell him of the crystal gazing for fear that the Priest might jump to the conclusion that it was this power Sorez was using and so would associate the girl too closely with the treasure hunt. Yet he wished to tell him enough to protect the girl from any scheme of vengeance this man might be planning against Sorez himself.
Upon the stone floor lay a brown-skinned skeleton with bulging eyes and clawing fingers muttering incoherently. Sorez could do nothing but administer a small injection of the soothing drug, but this brought instant relief and with it a few moments of sanity.
She added impulsively: "Twice I have left the most real thing in my life once at home and once in Bogova. I shall not do it again." "You refer to Wilson?" "Yes. Here in the mountains here with Flores and his wife, I am beginning to see." "What, my girl?" "That things of to-day are better worth than things of to-morrow." Sorez shifted a bit uneasily.
That he was weak and exhausted there could be no doubt; but it was equally clear now that he was by no means so weak as he had led Wilson to believe. Not even Stubbs could have drawn Wilson from the house, had he suspected Sorez of being able to move from that couch within twelve hours. Wilson blamed himself for stupidity, for carelessness, for almost criminal negligence in thus leaving the girl.
For a second it held the attention of both men, the Priest taking a step nearer the girl and looking at her almost curiously. Sorez knew this was the end. But he was a good gambler; having lost all, he accepted his fate with stoicism. He kept his head clear clear enough to do the thing which marked him a man. He squirmed about until he faced the girl.
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