The Face in the Abyss | Page 7

touched him with the finger of nightmare terror? He groped back, foot by foot, afraid to
turn his face from the silence. Behind him the fire flared. His fear dropped from him.
His reaction from his panic was a heady recklessness. He threw a log upon the fire and
laughed as the sparks shot up among the leaves. Soames, coming out of the tent for more
water, stopped as he heard that laughter and scowled at him malevolently.
"Laugh," he said. "Laugh while you can. Maybe you'll laugh on the other side of your
mouth when we get Starrett up and he tells us what he knows."
"That was a sound sleep I gave him, anyway," jeered Graydon.
"There are sounder sleeps. Don't forget it," Dancret's voice, cold and menacing came
from the tent.
Graydon turned his back to the tent, and deliberately faced that silence from which he had
just fled. He seated himself, and after a while he dozed.
He awakened with a jump. Halfway between him and the tent Starrett was charging on
him like a madman, bellowing.
Graydon leaped to his feet, but before he could defend himself the giant was upon him.
The next moment he was down, overborne by sheer weight. The big adventurer
crunched-a knee into his arm and gripped his throat
"Let her go, did you!" he roared. "Knocked me out and then let her go! Here's where you
go, too, damn you!"
Graydon tried to break the grip on his throat. His lungs labored; there was a deafening
roaring in his ears, and flecks of crimson began to dance across his vision. Starrett was
strangling him. Through fast dimming sight he saw two black shadows leap through the
firelight and clutch the strangling hands.

The fingers relaxed. Graydon staggered up. A dozen paces away stood Starrett. Dancret,
arms around his knees, was hanging to him like a little terrier. Beside him was Soames,
the barrel of his automatic pressed against his stomach.
"Why don't you let me kill him!" raved Starrett. "Didn't I tell you the girl had enough
green ice on her to set us up the rest of our lives? There's more where it came from! And
he let her go! Let her go, the--"
Again his curses flowed.
"Now look here, Starrett," Soames's voice was deliberate. "You be quiet, or I'll do for you.
We ain't goin' to let this thing get by us, me and Dancret. We ain't goin' to let this
double-crossin' louse do us, and we ain't goin' to let you spill the beans by killin' him.
We've struck somethin' big. All right, we're goin' to cash in on it. We're goin' to sit down
peaceable, and Mister Graydon is goin' to tell us what happened after he put you out,
what dicker he made with the girl and all of that. If he won't do it peaceable, then Mister
Graydon is goin' to have things done to him
that'll make him give up. That's all. Danc', let go his legs. Starrett, if you kick up any
more trouble until I give the word I'm goin' to shoot you. From now on I boss this
crowd--me and Dane. You get me, Starrett?"
Graydon, head once more clear, slid a cautious hand down toward the pistol holster. It
was empty. Soames grinned, sardonically.
"We got it, Graydon," he said. "Yours, too, Starrett. Fair enough. Sit down everybody."
He squatted by the fire, still keeping Starrett covered. And after a moment the latter,
grumbling, followed suit. Dancret dropped beside him.
"Come over here, Graydon," said Soames. "Come over here and cough up. What're you
holdin' out on us? Did you make a date with her to meet you after you got rid of us? If so,
where is it--because we'll all go together."
"Where'd you hide those gold spears?" growled Starrett "You never let her get away with
them, that's sure."
"Shut up, Starrett," ordered Soames. "I'm holdin' this inquest. Still--there's something in
that. Was that it, Graydon? Did she give you the spears and her jewelry to let her go?"
"I've told you," answered Graydon. "I asked for nothing, and took nothing. Starrett's
drunken folly had put us all in jeopardy. Letting the girl go free was the first vital step
toward our own safety. I thought it was the best thing to do. I still think so."
"Yeah?" sneered the lank New Englander, "is that so? Well, I'll tell you, Graydon, if she'd
been an Indian maybe I'd agree with you. But not when she was the kind of lady Starrett
says she was. No, sir, it ain't natural. You know damned well that if you'd been straight
you'd have kept her here till Dane' and me got back. Then we could all have got together

and