FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93  
94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   >>   >|  
rept deeper into the shadows as the full glory of the glowing orb turned the night into day. I had waited some thirty minutes for Holman when I noticed a movement beneath a small bush some fifteen paces to my right. I watched the spot without moving, and presently a dark figure crept out of the shelter and moved cautiously toward the camp. Convinced that the visitor was Soma, I pulled out my revolver and waited, wondering as I watched what he intended to do. The black figure came closer. He paused to listen to the sounds that came from the fire, and as he lifted his head the moonlight fell across his face, and I put the revolver back in my pocket. "Kaipi," I murmured. The Fijian crept quietly to the spot where I was hiding. "I come for you," he muttered. "Why?" "Funny things much," he gurgled. "Light on mountain, no see from here. Me watch it, think it something bad. Come, I'll show you." Holman returned at that moment and I explained what Kaipi had just told me. "The devil!" muttered the youngster. "The note said that he would meet them at the Long Gallery. See, the light is not visible from our camp, and the brute never thought that one of us would be far enough from the camp to notice it. If it's a signal we might be able to reach the spot and see what is actually going on. If we leave things till to-morrow I'm afraid we'll be too late." "But the girls?" I cried. "We'll get back," he replied. "I told them how everything is, Verslun, and they're not afraid. Edith has an automatic pistol that she brought from the yacht, and she'll use it if she is forced to. Come on!" We followed Kaipi into the shadows, the Fijian picking his way with wonderful instinct through the clumps. At about half a mile from the camp he stopped and pointed to the cliffs. "Me see light flash way over there," he whispered. "You wait and see." We crouched down and waited. The minutes passed slowly, but the black barrier away to the east gave no sign of life. "I think Kaipi must have sighted a star," muttered Holman. "There is nothing--" He broke off abruptly and gripped my arm. High up in the basalt barrier, at a spot about three quarters of a mile from where we were crouched, a tiny flame suddenly appeared, blazed for an instant, then died away again. Three times it flared up and as quickly died away, but at the third disappearance Holman and I, with the vengeance-seeking Kaipi, were struggling through the netw
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93  
94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
Holman
 

waited

 

muttered

 
Fijian
 
afraid
 
barrier
 

crouched

 

things

 

revolver

 

minutes


shadows
 
figure
 

watched

 

clumps

 

instinct

 

turned

 

pointed

 

cliffs

 

wonderful

 

whispered


stopped
 

picking

 

Verslun

 
replied
 

forced

 
brought
 
automatic
 

pistol

 

thirty

 

blazed


instant

 

appeared

 
suddenly
 
quarters
 

deeper

 
vengeance
 

seeking

 

struggling

 

disappearance

 

flared


quickly

 

basalt

 
slowly
 

glowing

 
sighted
 
abruptly
 

gripped

 

passed

 
noticed
 

gurgled