Chapter XXII.
THE BEGINNING OF THE END.
Neither Harry nor I spoke; our eyes were concentrated on the scenebefore us, trying to comprehend its meaning.
It was something indefinable in Desiree's attitude that told me thetruth--what, I cannot tell. Her profile was toward us; it could nothave been her eyes or any expression of her face; but there was atenseness about her pose, a stiffening of the muscles of her body, anair of lofty scorn and supreme triumph coming somehow from every lineof her motionless figure, that flashed certainty into my brain.
And on the instant I turned to Harry.
"Follow me," I whispered; and he must have read the force of myknowledge in my eyes, for he obeyed without a word. Back down thepassage we ran, halting at its end. Harry opened his lips to speak,but I took the words from his mouth; seconds were precious.
"They have fired the column--you remember. Follow me; keep your spearready; not a sound, if you love her."
I saw that he understood, and saw too, by the expression that shot intohis face, that it would go ill with any Incas who tried to stop us then.
We rushed forward side by side, guessing at our way, seeking theentrance to the tunnel that led to the foot of the column. A prayerwas on my lips that we might not be too late; Harry's lips werecompressed together tightly as a vise. Death we did not fear, even forDesiree; but we remembered the horror of our own experience on the topof that column, and shuddered as we ran.
As I have said, we had entered the great cavern at a point almostdirectly opposite the alcove, and therefore at a distance from theentrance we sought. It was necessary to half encircle the cavern, andthe passages were so often crossed by other passages that many times wehad to guess at the proper road.
But not for an instant did we hesitate; we flew rather than ran. Ifelt within me the strength and resolve of ten men, and I knew thenthat there was something I must do and would do before I died, though athousand devils stood in my way.
I do not know what led us; whether a remorseful Providence, whosuddenly decided that we had been played with long enough, or the mereanimal instinct of direction, or blind luck. But so fast did we gothat it seemed to me we had left the great cavern scarcely a minutebehind us when I suddenly saw the steps of a steep stairway leadingdown from an opening on our right.
How my heart leaped then! Harry uttered a hoarse cry of exultation.The next instant we were dashing headlong down the steps, avoiding afall by I know not what miracle. And there before us was the entranceto the tunnel.
I held Harry back, almost shouting: "You stay here; guard the entrance.I'll get her."
"No," he cried, pushing forward. "I can't stay."
"Fool!" I cried, dashing him back. "We would be caught like rats in atrap. Defend that entrance--with your life!"
I saw him hesitate, and, knowing that he would obey, I dashed forwardinto the tunnel. When nearly to its end I made a misstep on the unevenground and precipitated myself against the wall. A sharp pain shotthrough my left shoulder, but at the time I was scarcely conscious ofit as I picked myself up and leaped forward. The end was in sight.
Just as I reached the foot of the spiral stairway I saw a black formdescending from it. That Inca never knew what hit him. I did not usemy spear; time was too precious. He disappeared in the whirlpoolbeneath the base of the column through which Harry and I had oncemiraculously escaped.
But despair filled my heart as, with my feet on the first step of thespiral stairway, I cast a quick glance upward. The upper half of theinside of the column was a raging furnace of fire. How or from what itcame I did not stop to inquire; I bounded up the stairway in desperatefury.
I did not know then that the stone steps were baking and blistering myfeet; I did not know, as I came level with the base of the flames, thatevery hair was being singed from my head and body--I only knew that Imust reach the top of the column.
Then I saw the source of the flames as I reached them. Huge vats ofoil--six, a dozen, twenty--I know not how many--were ranged in a circleon a ledge of stone encircling the column, and from their tops the fireleaped upward to a great height. I saw what must be done; how I did itGod only knows; I shut my eyes now as I remember it.
Hooking the rim of the vat nearest me with the point of my spear, Isent it tumbling down the length of the column into the whirlpool, manyfeet below. Then another, and another, and another, until the ledgewas empty.
Some of the burning oil, flying from the overturned vats, alighted onthe stairway, casting weird patches of light up and down the wholelength of the column. Some of it landed on my body, my face, my hands.It was a very hell of heat; my lungs, all the inside of me, was on fire.
My brain sang and whirled. My eyes felt as though they were beingburned from their sockets with red-hot irons. I bounded upward.
A few more steps--I could not see, I could hardly feel--and my headbumped against the stone at the top of the column. I put out my hand,groping around half crazily, and by some wild chance it came in contactwith the slide that moved the stone stab. I pushed, hardly knowingwhat I did, and the stone flew to one side. I stuck my head throughthe opening and saw Desiree.
Her back was toward me. As I emerged from the opening the Incas seatedround the vast amphitheater and the king, seated on the golden thronein the alcove, rose involuntarily from their seats in astonished wonder.
Desiree saw the movement and, turning, caught sight of me. A suddencry of amazement burst from her lips; she made a hasty step forward andfell fainting into my arms.
I shook her violently, but she remained unconscious, and this addedcatastrophe all but unnerved me. For a moment I stood on the upperstep with the upper half of my body, swaying from side to side,extending beyond the top of the column; then I turned and began todescend with Desiree in my arms.
Every step of that descent was unspeakable agony. Feeling was hardlyin me; my whole body was an engine of pain. Somehow, I staggered andstumbled downward; at every step I expected to fall headlong to thebottom with my burden. Desiree's form remained limp and lifeless in myarms.
I reached the ledge on which the vats had been placed and passed it;air entered my burning lungs like a breeze from the mountains. Everystep now made the next one easier. I began to think that I might,after all, reach the bottom in safety. Another twenty steps and Icould see the beginning of the tunnel below.
Desiree's form stirred slightly in my arms. A glance showed me hereyes looking up into mine as her head lay back on my shoulder.
"Why?" she moaned. "In the name of Heaven above us, why?" I had notime for answer; my lips were locked tightly together as I sought thestep below with a foot that had no feeling even for the stone. We werenearly to the bottom; we reached it.
I placed Desiree on her feet.
"Can you stand?" I gasped; and the words were torn from my throat witha great effort.
"But you!" she cried, and I saw that her eyes were filled with horror.No doubt I was a pitiful thing to look at.
But there was no time to be lost, and, seeing that her feet supportedher, I grasped her arm and started down the tunnel just as Harry'svoice, raised in a great shout, came to us from its farther end.
"No!" cried Desiree, shrinking back in terror. "Paul--" I dragged herforward.
Then, as Harry's cry was repeated, she seemed to understand and sprangforward beside me.
Another second wasted and we would have been too late. Just as wereached Harry's side, at the end of the tunnel, the Incas, warned by myappearance at the top of the column, appeared above on the stairway, atthe foot of which Harry had made his stand.
At the sight of Desiree Harry uttered a cry of joy, then gazed inastonishment as I appeared behind her.
"Run for your lives!" he shouted, pointing down the passage leading tothe apartments beyond. As he spoke a shower of spears descended fromabove, rattling on the steps and on the ground beside us. I stooped topick up two of them, and as Desiree and I darted forw
ard into thepassage, with Harry bringing up the rear, the Incas dashed down thestairway after us.
We found ourselves at once in the maze of lanes and passages leading tothe royal apartments. That, I thought, was as good a goal as any; and,besides, the way led to the cavern where we had once beforesuccessfully withstood our enemies. But the way was not so easy tofind.
Turn and twist about as we would, we could not shake off our pursuers.Harry kept urging me forward, but I was using every ounce of strengththat was left to me. Desiree, too, was becoming weaker at every step,and I could hear Harry's cry of despair as she perceptibly faltered andslackened her pace.
I soon realized that we were no longer in the passage or group ofpassages that led to the royal apartments and the cavern beyond. Butthere was no time to seek our way; well enough if we went forward. Wefound ourselves in a narrow lane, strewn with rocks, crooked andwinding.
Desiree stumbled and would have fallen but for my outstretched arm. Aspear from behind whistled past my ear as we again bounded forward.Harry was shouting to us that the Incas were upon us.
I caught Desiree's arm and pulled her on with a last great effort. Thelane became narrower still; we brushed the wall on either side, and Ipushed Desiree ahead of me and followed behind. Suddenly she stoppedshort, turning to face me so suddenly that I was thrown against her,nearly knocking her down.
"Your spear!" she cried desperately. "I can go no farther," and shesank to the ground.
At the same moment there came a cry from Harry in the rear--a cry thatheld joy and wonder--and I turned to see him standing some distanceaway, gazing down the lane through which we had come.
"They've given up!" he called. "They're gone!"
And I saw that it was true. No sound came, and no Inca was to be seen.
Then, seeing Desiree on the ground, Harry ran to us and sprang to herside. "Desiree!" he cried, lifting her in his arms. She opened hereyes and smiled at him, and he kissed her many times--her hair, herlips, her eyes. Then he placed her gently on her feet, and, supportingher with his arm, moved forward slowly. I led the way.
The lane ahead of us was scarcely more than a crevice between therocks; I squeezed my way through with difficulty. Then the walls endedabruptly, just when I had begun to think we could go no farther, and wefound ourselves at the entrance to a cavern so large that no wall wasto be seen on any side save the one behind us.
On the instant I guessed at the reason why the Incas had ceased theirpursuit so abruptly, and I turned to Harry:
"I'm afraid we've jumped from the frying-pan into the fire. If thiscavern holds anything like that other--you remember--"
"If it does, we shall see," he replied.
Supporting Desiree on either side, we struck out directly across thecavern, halting every few steps to listen for a sound, either of theIncas, which we feared, or of running water, which we desired. Weheard neither. All was blackness and the most complete silence.
Then I became aware, for the first time, of intolerable pains shootingup through my legs into my body. The danger past, reason returned andfeeling. I could not suppress a low cry, wrung inexorably from mychest, and I halted, leaning my whole weight on Desiree's shoulder.
"What is it?" she cried, and for answer--though I strained every atomof my will and strength to prevent it--I toppled to the ground,dragging her with me.
What followed came to me as in a dream, though I was not whollyunconscious. I was aware that Harry and Desiree were bending over me;then I felt my head and shoulders being lifted from the ground, and asoft, warm arm supporting me.
A minute passed, or an hour--I did not know--and I felt hot drops ofmoisture fall on my cheek. I struggled to open my eyes, and sawDesiree's face quite near my own; my head was resting on her shoulder.She was weeping silently, and great tears rolled down her cheeksunrestrained.
To have seen the sun or stars shining down upon me would not haveastonished me more. I gazed at her a long moment in silence; she sawthat I did so, but made no effort to turn her head or avoid my gaze.Finally I found my tongue.
"Where is Harry?" I asked.
"He is gone to look for water," she replied; and, curiously enough, hervoice was quite steady.
I smiled.
"It is useless. I am done for!"
"That isn't true," she denied, in a voice almost of anger. "You willget well. You are--injured badly--" After a short pause she added,"for me."
There was a long silence--I thought it hardly worth while to contradicther--and then I said simply, "Why are you crying, Desiree?"
She looked at me as though she had not heard; then, after anothersilence, her voice came, so low that it barely reached my ears:
"For this--and for what might have been, my friend."
"But you have said--"
"I know! Would you make me doubt again? Do not! Ah"--she passed herhand gently over my forehead and touched the tips of her fingers to myburning eyes--"you must have cared for me in that other world. I willnot doubt it; unless you speak, and you must not. Nothing would havebeen too high for us. We could have opened any door--even the door tohappiness."
"But you said once--forgive me if I remind you of it now--you said thatyou are--you called yourself 'La Marana.'"
She shrank back, exclaiming: "Paul! Indeed, I need to forgive you!"
"Still, it is true," I persisted, turning to look at her. The movementcaused me to halt, closing my eyes, while a great wave of pain sweptover me from head to foot. Then I went on: "Could you expect toconfine your heart? You say we could have opened any door--well, tellme, what could we have done, you and I?"
"But that is what I do not think of!" cried Desiree impatiently. "Iwould perhaps have placed my hand on your heart, as I do now; you wouldperhaps have fought for me, as you have done. I might even--" Shehesitated, while the ghost of a smile that had died before it reachedthe light appeared on her lips, as her head was lowered close, quiteclose, to mine.
A long moment, and then, "Must I ask for it?" I breathed.
She jerked her head up sharply.
"You do not want it," she said dryly.
I raised my hand, groping for her fingers, but could not find them.She saw, and slowly, very slowly, her hand crept to mine and was caughtand held there.
"Desiree--I want it," I said half fiercely, and I forgot my pain andour danger--forgot everything but her white face in dim outline aboveme, and her eyes, glowing and tender against her wish, and her handthat nestled in my hand. "Be merciful to me--I want it as I have neverwanted anything in my life. Desiree, I love you."
At that I felt her hand move quickly, as for freedom, but I held itfast. And then slowly her head was lowered. I waited breathlessly. Ifelt her quick breath on my face, and the next moment her lips hadfound my lips, hot and dry, and remained there.
Then she raised her head, saying tremulously:
"That was my soul, and it is the first time it has ever escaped me."
At the same instant we were startled by the sound of Harry's voice inthe darkness:
"Desiree! Where are you?"
I waited for her to answer, but she was silent, and I called out to himour direction. A moment later his form appeared at a distance, andsoon he had joined us.
"How about it, old man?" he asked, bending over me.
Then he told us that he had found no water. He had explored two sidesof the cavern, one at a distance of half a mile or more, and wascrossing to find the third when he had called to us.
"But there is little use," he finished gloomily. "The place is silentas the grave. If there were water we would hear it. I can't even findan exit except the crevice that let us in."
Desiree's hand was still in mine.
"It may be--perhaps I can go with you," I suggested. But he would nothear of it, and set out again alone in the opposite direction to thatwhich he had taken previously.
In a few minutes he returned, reporting no better success than before.On that side, he
said, the wall of the cavern was quite close. Therewas no sign anywhere of water; but to the left there were severalnarrow lanes leading at angles whose sides were nearly parallel to eachother, and some distance to the right there was a broad and clearpassage sloping downward directly away from the cavern.
"Is the passage straight?" I asked, struck with a sudden idea. "Couldyou see far within?"
"A hundred feet or so," was the answer. "Why? Shall we follow it?Can you walk?"
"I think so," I answered. "At any rate, I must find some water soon orquit the game. But that isn't why I asked. Perhaps it explains thesudden disappearance of the Incas. They knew they couldn't follow usthrough that narrow crevice; what if they have made for the passage?"
Harry grumbled that we had enough trouble without trying to borrow more.
We decided to wait a little longer before starting out from the cavern;Harry helped me to my feet to give them a trial, and though I was ableto stand it was only by a tremendous effort and exertion of the will.
"Not yet," I murmured between clenched teeth, and again Desiree sat onthe hard rock and supported my head and shoulders in her arms, despitemy earnest remonstrances. Harry stood before us, leaning on his spear.
Soon he left us again, departing in the direction of the crevice bywhich we had entered; I detected his uneasiness in the tone with whichhe directed us to keep a lookout around in every direction.
"We could move to the wall," I had suggested; but he shook his head,saying that where we were we at least had room to turn.
When he had gone Desiree and I sat silent for many minutes. Then Itried to rise, insisting that she must be exhausted with the longstrain she had undergone, but she denied it vehemently, and refused toallow me to move.
"It is little enough," she said; and though I but half understood her,I made no answer.
I myself was convinced that we were at last near the end. It wascertain that the Incas had merely delayed, not abandoned, the pursuit,and our powers and means of resistance had been worn to nothing.
Our curious apathy and half indifference spoke for itself; it was asthough we had at length recognized the hand of fate and seen thefutility of further struggle. For, weak and injured as I was, I stillhad strength in me; it was a listlessness of the brain and hopelessnessof the heart that made me content to lie and wait for whatever mightcome.
The state of my feelings toward Desiree were even then elusive; theyare more so now. I had told her I loved her; well, I had told manywomen that. But Desiree had moved me; with her it was not thesame--that I felt. I had never so admired a woman, and the thrill ofthat kiss is in me yet; I can recall it and tremble under its power bymerely closing my eyes.
Her warm hand, pressed tightly in my own, seemed to send an electriccommunication to every nerve in my body and eased my suffering andstilled my pain. That, I know, is not love; and perhaps I was mistakenwhen I imagined that it was there.
"Are you asleep?" she asked presently, after I had lain perfectly quietfor many minutes. Her voice was so low that it entered my ear as thefaintest breath.
"Hardly," I answered. "To tell the truth, I expect never to sleepagain--I suppose you understand me. I can't say why--I feel it."
Desiree nodded.
"Do you remember, Paul, what I said that evening on the mountain?"Then--I suppose my face must have betrayed my thought--she addedquickly: "Oh, I didn't mean that--other thing. I said this mountainwould be my grave, do you remember? You see, I knew."
I started to reply, but was interrupted by Harry, calling to ask wherewe were. I answered, and soon he had joined us and seated himselfbeside Desiree on the ground.
"I found nothing," was all he said, wearily, and he lay back and closedhis eyes, resting his head on his hands.
The minutes passed slowly. Desiree and I talked in low tones; Harrymoved about uneasily on his hard bed, saying nothing. Finally, despiteDesiree's energetic protests, I rose to my knees and insisted that sherest herself. We seemed none of us to be scarcely aware of what wewere doing; our movements had a curious purposelessness about them thatgave the thing an appearance of unreality--I know not what; it comes tomy memory as some indistinct and haunting nightmare.
Suddenly, as I sat gazing dully into the semidarkness of the cavern, Isaw that which drove the apathy from my brain with a sudden shock, atthe same time paralyzing my senses. I strained my eyes ahead; therecould be no doubt of it; that black, slowly moving line was a band ofIncas creeping toward us silently, on their knees, through thedarkness. Glancing to either side I saw that the line extendedcompletely around us, to the right and left.
The sight seemed to paralyze me. I tried to call to Harry--no soundcame from my eager lips. I tried to put out my hand to rouse him andto pick up my spear; my arms remained motionless at my side.
Desiree lay close beside me; I could not even turn my head to see ifshe, too, saw, but kept my eyes, as though fascinated, on that silentblack line approaching through the darkness.
"Will they leap now--now--now?" I asked myself with every beat of mypulse.
It could not be much longer--they were now so close that each black,tense form was in clear outline not fifty feet away.