er they had left me, and I stood watching them until the two
stars of light from their lanterns vanished into the blackness.

CHAPTER XVI

HARMAC COMES TO MUR

Slowly and in very bad spirits I retraced my steps to the old temple,
following the line of the telephone wire which Higgs and Quick had
unreeled as they went. In the Sergeant's prognostications of evil I
had no particular belief, as they seemed to me to be born of the
circumstances which surrounded us, and in different ways affected all
our minds, even that of the buoyant Higgs.

To take my own case, for instance. Here I was about to assist in an act
which for aught I knew might involve the destruction of my only son. It
was true we believed that this was the night of his marriage at the town
of Harmac, some miles away, and that the tale of our spies supported
this information. But how could we be sure that the date, or the place
of the ceremony, had not been changed at the last moment? Supposing,
for instance, that it was held, not in the town, as arranged, but in the
courts of the idol, and that the fearful activities of the fiery agent
which we were about to wake to life should sweep the celebrants into
nothingness.

The thought made me turn cold, and yet the deed must be done; Roderick
must take his chance. And if all were well, and he escaped that danger,
were there not worse behind? Think of him, a Christian man, the husband
of a savage woman who worshipped a stone image with a lion's head, bound
to her and her tribe, a state prisoner, trebly guarded, whom, so far
as I could see, there would be no hope of rescuing. It was awful. Then
there were other complications. If the plan succeeded and the idol was
destroyed, my own belief was that the Fung must thereby be exasperated.
Evidently they knew some road into this stronghold. It would be used.
They would pour their thousands up it, a general massacre would follow,
of which, justly, we should be the first victims.

I reached the chamber where Oliver sat brooding alone, for Japhet was
patrolling the line.

"I am not happy about Maqueda, Doctor," he said to me. "I am afraid
there is something in that story. She wanted to be with us; indeed, she
begged to be allowed to come almost with tears. But I wouldn't have it,
since accidents may always happen; the vibration might shake in the roof
or something; in fact, I don't think you should be here. Why don't you
go away and leave me?"

I answered that