y arms, catching her breath; laughed shakily.
I took swift stock of her. Save for fear upon her, she was the same Ruth I had known three years before; wide, deep blue eyes that were now all seriousness, now sparkling Rene Bourque Jersey wells of mischief; petite, rounded and tender; the fairest skin; an Marcus Foligno Jersey impudent little nose; shining clusters of intractable curls; all human, sparkling and sweet.
Drake coughed, Duvetica Naiset untuvatakki insinuatingly. I introduced him.
“I— I watched you struggling through that dreadful pit.” She shuddered. “I could not see who you were, did not know whether friend or enemy — but oh, my heart almost died in pity for you, Walter,” she breathed. “What can it be — THERE?”
I shook my head.
“Martin could not see you,” she went on. “He was watching Timberland Miehet Roll-Top Boots the road that leads above. But I ran down — to help.”
“Mart watching?” I asked. “Watching for what?”
“I—” she hesitated oddly. “I think I’d rather tell you before him. It’s so strange — so incredible.”
She led us through the broken portal and into the fortress. It was more gigantic even than I had thought. The floor of Ryan Ellis Jersey the vast chamber we had Bailey Bow Czyścibut 3280 entered was strewn with fragments fallen from the crackling, stone-vaulted ceiling. Through the breaks light streamed from the level above us.
We picked our way among the debris to a wide crumbling stairway, crept up it, Ruth flitting ahead. We came out opposite one of the eye-like apertures. Black against it, perched high upon a pile of blocks, I recognized the long, lean outline of Ventnor, rifle in hand, gazing intently up the ancient road whose windings were plain through the opening. He had not heard us.
“Martin,” called Ruth softly.
He turned. A shaft of light from a crevice in the gap’s edge struck his face, flashing it out from the semidarkness of the corner in which he crouched. I looked into the quiet gray eyes, upon the keen face.
“Goodwin!” he shouted, tumbling down from his perch, shaking me by the shoulders. “If I had been in the way of praying — you’re the man I’d have prayed for. How did you get here?”
“Just wandering, Mart,” I answered. “But Lord! Steve Larmer Jersey I’m sure GLAD to see you.”
“Which way did you come?” he asked, keenly. Jaromir Jagr Jersey I threw my hand toward the south.
“Not through that hollow?” he asked incredulously.
“And some hell of a place to get through,” Drake broke in. “It cost us Kevin Hayes Jersey our ponies and all Evgenii Dadonov Jersey my ammunition.”
“Richard Drake,” I said. “Son of old Alvin — you knew him, Mart.”
“Knew him Josh Bailey Jersey well,” cried Ventnor, seizing Dick’s hand. “Wanted me to Miehet Nobis CARTL Bomber go to Kamchatka to get some confounded sort of stuff for one of his devilish experiments. Is he well?”
“He’s dead,” replied Dick soberly.
“Oh!” said Ventnor. “Oh — I’m sorry. He was a great man.”
Briefly I acquainted him with my wanderings, my encounter with Drake.
“That place out there —” he considered us thoughtfully. “Damned if I know what it is. Thought maybe it’s gas — of a sort. If it hadn�links:
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