The Face in the Abyss | Page 4

extinction, so he had been taught, man could never have
developed.
Who in this Andean wilderness could know or could have known the dinosaurs? Who
here could have carved the monsters with such life-like detail as these possessed? Why, it
was only yesterday that science had learned what really were their huge bones, buried so
long that the rocks had molded themselves around them in adamantine matrix. And
laboriously, with every modem resource, haltingly and laboriously, science had set those
bones together as a perplexed child would a picture puzzle, and put forth what it believed
to be reconstructions of these longvanished chimera of earth's nightmare youth.
Yet here, far from all science it must surely be, some; one had modeled those same
monsters for a woman's; bracelet. Why then--it followed that whoever had done this must
have had before him the living forms from which; to work. Or, if not, had copies of those
forms set down by ancient men who had seen them. And either or both these things were
incredible, Who were the people to whom she belonged? There had been a
name--Yu-Atlanchi.
"Suarra," he said, "where is Yu-Atlanchi? Is it this place?"

"This?" She laughed. "No! Yu-Atlanchi is the Ancient Land. The Hidden Land where the
six Lords and the Lords of Lords once ruled. And where now rules only the Snake
Mother and--another. This place Yu-Atlanchi!" Again she laughed. "Now and then I hunt
here with-- the--" she hesitated, looking at him oddly--"So it was that he who lies there
caught me. I was hunting. I had slipped away from my followers, for sometimes it pleases
me to hunt alone. I came through these trees and saw your tetuane, your lodge. I came
face to face with--him. And I was amazed--too amazed to strike with one of these." She
pointed to a low knoll a few feet away. "Before I could conquer that amaze he had caught
me. Then you came."
Graydon looked where she had pointed. Upon the ground lay three slender, shining
spears. Their slim shafts were of gold; the arrow-shaped heads of two of them were of
fine opal The .third--the third was a single emerald, translucent and flawless, all of six
inches long and three at its widest, ground to keenest point and cutting edge.
There it lay, a priceless jewel tipping a spear of gold-- and a swift panic shook Graydon.
He had forgotten Soames and Dancret. Suppose they should return while this girl was
there. This girl with her ornaments of gold, her gem- tipped spears--and her beauty!
"Suarra," he said, "you must go, and go quickly. This man and I are not all. There are two
more, and even now they may be close. Take your spears, and go quickly. Else I may not
be able to save you."
"You think I am--"
"I tell you to go," he interrupted. "Whoever you are, whatever you are, go now and keep
away from this place. To-morrow I will try to lead them away. If you have people to fight
for you--well, let them come and fight if you so desire. But take your spears and go."
She crossed to the little knoll and picked up the spears. She held one out to him, the one
that bore the emerald point.
"This," she said, "to remember--Suarra."
"No," he thrust it back. "Go!"
If the others saw that jewel, never, he knew, would he be able to start them on the back
trail--if they could find it. Starrett had seen it, of course, but he might be able to convince
them that Starrett's story was only a drunken dream.
The girl studied him--a quickened interest in her eyes.
She slipped the bracelets from her arms, held them out to him with the three spears.
"Will you take these--and leave your comrades?" she asked. "Here are gold and gems.
They are treasure. They are what you have been seeking. Take them. Take them and go,
leaving that man here. Consent--and I will show you a way out of this forbidden land."

Graydon hesitated. The emerald alone was worth a fortune. What loyalty did he owe the
three, after all? And Starrett had brought this thing upon himself. Nevertheless--they were
his comrades. Open-eyed he had gone into this venture with them. He had a vision of
himself skulking away with the glittering booty, creeping off to safety while he left the
three unwarned, unprepared, to meet--what?
He did not like that picture.
"No," he said. "These men are of my race, my comrades. Whatever is to come--I will
meet it with them and help them fight it."
"Yet you would have fought them for my sake--indeed, did fight," she said. "Why then do
you cling to them when you can save yourself, and go free,