The Face in the Abyss by Abraham Merritt (ebook e reader .TXT) đ
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Soames had been watching him, closely.
âBy God, Dancâ,â he said, âI guess you hit it He changed color. Heâs sold us out.â
He .raised his automatic, held it on Graydonâthen lowered it.
âNo,â he said, deliberately. âThis is too big a thing to let slip by beinâ too quick on the trigger. If your dope is.right, Daneâ, and I guess it is, the lady was mighty grateful. All rightâwe ainât got her, but we have got him. As I figure it, beinâ grateful, she wonât want him to get killed. Sheâll be back. Well, weâll trade him for what they got that we want. Tie him up.â
He pointed the pistol at Graydon. Unresisting, Graydon let Starrett and Dancret bind his wrists. They pushed him over to one of the trees and sat him on the ground with his
back against its bole. They passed a rope under his arms and hitched it securely around the trunk; they tied his feet.
âNow,â said Soames, âif her gang show up in the morning, well let âem see you, and find out how much youâre worth. They wonât rush us. Thereâs bound to be a palaver. And if they donât come to termsâwell, Graydon, the first bullet out of this gun goes through your guts. Thatâll give you time to see what we do to her before you die.â
Graydon did not answer him. He knew that nothing he might say would change them from their purpose. He made himself as comfortable as possible, and closed his eyes. Once or twice he opened them, and looked at the others. They sat beside the fire, heads dose together, talking in whispers, their faces tense, and eyes feverish with
the treasure lust. After a while Graydonâs head dropped forward. He slept.
CHAPTER III. The White Llama
IT WAS DAWN when Graydon awakened.
Some one had thrown a blanket over him during the night, but he was, nevertheless, cold and stiff. He drew his legs up and down painfully, trying to start the sluggish blood. He heard the others stirring in the tent. He wondered which of them had thought of the blanket, and why he had been moved to that kindness.
Starrett lifted the tent flap, passed by him without a word and went on to the spring. He returned and busied himself, furtively, about the fire. Now and then he looked at the prisoner, but seemingly with neither anger nor resentment. He slipped at last to the tent, listened, then trod softly over to Graydon.
âSorry about this,â he muttered. âBut I canât do anything with Soames and Dancret. Had a hard time persuading âem even to let you have that blanket. Take a drink of this.â
He pressed a flask to Graydonâs lips. He took a liberal swallow; it warmed him.
âSh-h,â warned Starrett. âDonât bear any grudge. Drunk last night. Iâll help you, ifââ He broke off, abruptly;
busied himself with the burning logs. Out of the tent came Soames.
âIâm goinâ to give you one last chance, Graydon,â he began, without preliminary. âCome through clean with us on your dicker with the girl, and weâll take you back with us, and all work together and all share together. You had the edge on us yesterday, and I donât know that I blame
you. But itâs three to one now and the plain truth is you canât get away with it. So why not be reasonable?â
âWhatâs the use of going over all that again, Soames?â Graydon asked, wearily. âIâve told you everything. If youâre wise, youâll .let me loose, give me my guns and Iâll fight for you when the trouble comes. For trouble is coming, man, sureâbig trouble.â
âYeah!â snarled the New Englander. âTryinâ to scare us, are you? All rightâthereâs a nice little trick of drivinâ a wedge under each of your finger nails and a-keepinâ drivinâ âem in. It makes âmost anybody talk after awhile. And if it donât, thereâs the good old fire dodge. Rollinâ your feet up to it, closer and closer and closer. Yeah, anybodyâll talk when their toes begin to crisp up and toast.â
Suddenly he bent over and sniffed at Graydonâs lips.
âSo thatâs it!â he faced Starrett, tense, gun leveled from his hip pocket. âBeen feedinâ him liquor, have you? Been talkinâ to him, have you? After weâd settled it last night that I was to do all the talkinâ. All right, that settles you, Starrett. Dancret! Dancâ! Come here, quick!â he roared.
The Frenchman came running out of the tent.
âTie him up,â Soames nodded toward Starrett. âAnother damned double-crosser in the camp. Gave him liquor. Got their heads together while we were inside. Tie him.â
âBut, Soames,â the Frenchman hesitated, âif we have to fight, it is not well to have half of us helpless, non. Perhaps Starrett he did nothingââ
âIf we have to fight, two men will do as well as three,â said Soames. âI ainât goinâ to let this thing slip through my fingers, Dancâ. I donât think weâll have to do any fightinâ. If they come, I think itâs goinâ to be a tradinâ job. Starrettâs turninâ traitor, too. Tie him, I say.â
âWell, I donât like itââ began Dancret; Soames made an impatient motion with his automatic; the little Frenchman went to the tent, returned with a coil of rope, and sidled up to Starrett.
âPut up your hands,â ordered Soames. Starrett swung them up. But in mid-swing they closed on Dancret, lifted
him like a doll and held him between himself and the gaunt New Englander.
âNow shoot, damn you!â he cried, and bore down on Soames, meeting every move of his pistol arm with Dancretâs wriggling body. His own right hand swept down to the Frenchmanâs belt, drew from the holster his automatic, leveled it over the twisting shoulder at Soames.
âDrop your gun. Yank,â grinned Starrett, triumphantly. âOr shoot if you want. But before your bulletâs half through Dancret here, by Christ, Iâll have you drilled clean.â
There was a momentary, sinister silenceâit was broken by a sudden pealing of tiny golden bells.
Their chiming cleft through the murk of murder that had fallen on the camp; lightened it; dissolved it as the sunshine does a cloud. Soamesâ pistol dropped; Starrettâs iron grip upon Dancret relaxed.
Through the trees, not a hundred yards away, came Suarra.
A cloak of green covered the girl from neck almost to slender feet. In her hair gleamed a twisted string of emeralds. Bandlets of gold studded with the same gems circled her wrists and ankles. Behind her a snow-white llama paced, sedately. There was a broad golden collar around its neck from which dropped strands of little golden bells. At each of its silvery sides a pannier hung, woven it seemed from shining yellow rushes.
And there was no warrior host around her. She had brought neither avengers nor executioners. At the llamaâs side was a single attendant. Swathed in a voluminous robe of red and yellow, the hood of which covered his face. His only weapon was a long staff, vermilion. He was bent, and he fluttered and danced as he came on, taking little steps backward and forwardâmovements that carried the suggestion that his robes clothed less a human being than some huge bird. They drew closer, and Graydon saw that the hand that clutched the staff was thin and white with the transparent pallor of old, old age.
He strained at his bonds, a sick horror at his heart. Why had she come backâlike this? Without strong men to guard her? With none but this one ancient? And decked in jewels and gold? He had warned her; she could not be ignorant of what threatened her. It was as though she had come thus deliberatelyâto fan the lusts from which she had most to fear.
âDiable!â whispered Dancretââthe emeralds!â
âGodâwhat a girl!â muttered Starrett, thick nostrils distended, a red flicker in his eyes.
Soames said nothing, perplexity and suspicion replacing the astonishment with which he had watched the approach. Nor did he speak as the girl and her attendants halted close beside him. But the doubt in his eyes grew, and he scanned the path along which they had come, searching every tree, every bush. There was no sign of movement,
no sound.
âSuarra!â cried Graydon, despairingly, âSuarra, why
did you return?â
She stepped over to him, and drew a dagger from beneath her cloak. She cut the thongs binding him to the tree. She slipped the blade beneath the cords that fettered his wrists and ankles; freed him. He staggered to his feet.
âWas it not well for you that I did come?â she asked, sweetly.
Before he could answer, Soames strode forward. And Graydon saw that he had come to some decision, had resolved upon some course of action. He made a low, awkward, mocking bow to the girl; then spoke to Graydon.
âAll right,â he said, âyou can stay looseâas long as you do what I want you to. The girlâs back and thatâs the main thing. She seems to favor you a lot, Graydon. I reckon that gives us a way to persuade her to answer our questions. Yes, sir, and you favor her. Thatâs useful, too. I reckon you wonât want to be tied up anâ watch certain things happen to her, ehââ he leered at Graydon. âBut thereâs just one thing youâve got to do if you want things to go along peaceable. Donât do any talkinâ to her when
I ainât close by. Remember, I know the Aymara as well as you do. And I want to be right alongside listeninâ in all the time, do you see? Thatâs all.â
He turned to Suarra.
âYour visit has brought great happiness, maiden,â he spoke in the Aymara. âIt will not be a short one, if we have our wayâand I think we will have our wayââ There was covert menace in the phrase, yet if she noted it she gave no heed. âYou are strange to us, as we must be to you. There is much for us each to learn, one of the other.â
âThat is true,â she answered, tranquilly. âI think though that your desire to learn of me is much greater than mine to learn of youâsince, as you surely know, I have had one not too pleasant lesson.â She glanced at Starrett.
âThe lessons,â he said, âshall be pleasantâor not pleasant, as you choose.â
This time there was no mistaking the menace in the words, nor did Suarra again let it pass. Her eyes blazed sudden wrath.
âBetter not to threaten!â she warned. âI, Suarra, am not used to threatsâand if you will take my counsel you will keep them to yourself hereafter!â
âYeah, is that so?â Soames took a step toward her, face grown grim and ugly. There came a dry chuckling from the hooded figure in red and yellow. Suarra started; her wrath vanished, she became friendly once more.
âI was hasty,â she said to Soames. âNevertheless, it is never wise to threaten unless you know the strength of what it is you menace. And rememberâof me you know nothing. Yet I know all that you wish to learn. You wish to know how I came by thisâand thisâand thisââ she touched her coronal, her bracelet, her anklets. âYou wish to know where they came from, and if there are more of them there, and if so, how you may possess yourself of as much as you can carry away. Well, you shall know all that. I have come to tell you.â
At this announcement, so frank and open, all the doubt
and suspicion returned to Soames. Again his eyes narrowed and he searched the trail up which Suarra had
come.
âSoames,â Dancret gripped his arm, and his voice and hand were both shaking, âthe baskets on
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