THE FACE IN THE ABYSS: Sci-Fi Classic. Abraham Merritt
and walked with red-and-yellow robe toward one of the neighboring knolls. The white llama followed her. Graydon had expected Soames to halt her, but he did not. Instead, his eyes flashed some message to Dancret and Starrett. It seemed to Graydon they were pleased that the girl was not to share their camp, that they welcomed the distance she had put between them.
And their manner toward him had changed. They were comradely once more.
“Mind takin’ the burros over to water?” asked Soames. “We’ll get the fire goin’, and chow ready.”
Graydon nodded and led the animals over to the brook. Taking them back after they had drunk their fill, he looked over at the mound to which Suarra had gone. At its base stood a small square tent, glimmering in the twilight like silk. Tethered close to it was the white llama, placidly munching grass and grain. Its hampers of woven golden withes were still at its sides. Neither Suarra nor the hooded man was visible. They were, he supposed, within the tent.
At his own hillock a fire was crackling and supper being prepared. As he came up, Starrett jerked a thumb at the little tent.
“Took it out of the saddle-bags,” he said. “Looked like a folded umbrella and went up like one. Who’d ever think to find anything like that in this wilderness!”
“Lots of things I t’ink in those saddle-bags we have not yet seen maybe,” whispered Dancret.
“You bet,” said Soames. “An’ the loot we’ve already seen’s enough to set us all up for life. Eh, Graydon?”
“She has promised you much more,” answered Graydon, troubled by the undercurrent in the New Englander’s voice.
“Yeah,” said Soames, “yeah—I guess so. But—well, let’s eat.”
The four sat around the burning sticks, as they had for so many nights before his fight with Starrett. And, to Graydon’s astonishment, they ignored the weird tragedy of the plain; avoided it, swiftly changed the subject when twice, to test them, he brought it up. Their talk was all of the treasure so close to them, and of what could be done with it when back in their own world. Piece by piece they went over the golden hoard in the white llama’s packs; discussed Suarra’s jewels and their worth. It was as though they were bent upon infecting him with their own avarice.
“Hell! Why, with only her emeralds none of us’d have to worry!” Starrett repeated, with variations, over and over.
Graydon listened with increasing disquiet. There was something behind this studied avoidance of the destruction of the scarlet thing by the dinosaurs, this constant reference to the rich loot at hand, the reiterated emphasis upon what ease and luxuries it would bring them all.
Suddenly he realized that they were afraid, that terror of the unknown struggled with treasure lust. And that therefore they were doubly dangerous. Something was hidden in the minds of the three to whose uncovering all this talk was only the preamble.
At last Soames looked at his watch.
“Nearly eight,” he said, abruptly. “Dawn breaks about five. Time to talk turkey. Graydon, come up close.”
The four drew into a huddle in the shelter of the knoll. From where they crouched, Suarra’s tent was hidden—as they were hidden to any watchers in that little silken pavilion looking now like a great silver moth at rest under the moonlight.
“Graydon,” began the New Englander, “we’ve made up our minds on this thing. We’re goin’ to do it a little different. We’re glad and willin’ to let bygones be bygones. Here we are, four white men among a bunch of God knows what. White men ought to stick together. Ain’t that so?”
Graydon nodded, waiting.
“All right, then,” said Soames. “Now here’s the situation. I don’t deny that what we seen to-day gave us all a hell of a jolt. We ain’t equipped to go up against anything like that pack of hissin’ devils. But, an’ here’s the point, we can beat it out an’ come back, equipped. You get me?”
Again Graydon nodded, alert to meet what he sensed was coming.
“There’s enough stuff on that llama and the girl to make all comfortable,” went on Soames. “But also it’s enough to finance the greatest little expedition that ever hit the trail for treasure. An’ that’s just what we plan doin’, Graydon. Get the hampers an’ all that’s in ’em. Get the stuff on the girl. Beat it, an’ come back. We’ll get together a little crowd of hard-boiled guys. The four of us’ll take half we find an’ the others’ll divide the other half. We’ll pack along a couple of planes, an’ damn soon find out where the girl comes from. I bet those hissin’ devils wouldn’t stand up long under machine guns an’ some bombs dropped from the flyin’ crates. An’ when the smoke clears away we’ll lift the loot an’ go back an’ sit on the top of the world. What you say to that?”
Graydon fenced for time.
“How will you get the stuff now?” he asked. “And if you get it, how will you get away with it?”
“Easy,” Soames bent his head closer. “We got it all planned. There’s only the girl an’ that old devil in that tent. They ain’t watchin’, they’re too sure of us. All right, if you’re with us, we’ll just slip over there. Starrett and Danc’, they’ll take care of the dummy. No shootin’. Just slip a knife between his ribs. Me an’ you’ll attend to the girl. We won’t hurt her. Just tie her up an’ gag her. Then we’ll stow the stuff on a couple of burros, an’ beat it.”
“Beat it where?” asked Graydon. He edged a bit closer to Dancret, ready to jerk the automatic from his pocket.
“Beat it out, damn it!” growled Soames. “Me an’ Starrett seen a peak to the west both of us recognized when we come in here. Once we hit it I know where we are. An’ travelin’ light an’ all night we can be well on our way to it by this time to-morrow. These woods ain’t so thick an’ it’s full moon.”
Graydon moved his hand cautiously and touched Dancret’s pocket. The automatic was still there. Before he made that desperate move he would try one last appeal—to fear.
“But you’ve forgotten one thing, Soames,” he said. “There would be pursuit. What could we do with those hell-beasts on our track? Why, man, they’d be after us in no time. You couldn’t get away with anything like that.”
Instantly he realized the weakness in the argument.
“Not a bit of it,” Soames grinned evilly. “That’s just the point. Nobody’s worryin’ about that girl. Nobody knows where she is an’ she don’t want ’em to. She was damned anxious not to be seen this afternoon. No, Graydon—I figure she slipped away from her folks to help you out. I take my hat off to you—you’re a quick worker an’ you sure got her hooked. The only one that might raise trouble is the old devil. He’ll get the knife before he knows it. Then there’s only the girl. She’ll be damned glad to show us the way out, happen we get lost again. But me an’ Starrett know that peak, I tell you. We’ll carry her along so she can’t start anybody after us, an’ when we get where we know the country we’ll turn her loose for a walk back home. An’ none the worse off either—eh, boys?”
Starrett and Dancret nodded.
Graydon feigned to consider. He knew exactly what was in Soames’ mind—to use him in the cold-blooded murder the three had planned and, once beyond the reach of pursuit, to murder him, too. Nor would they ever allow Suarra to return to tell what they had done. She would be slain—after they had thrown her to Starrett.
“Come on, Graydon,” whispered Soames, impatiently. “It’s a good scheme, an’ we can work it. Are you with us? If you ain’t—”
His knife glittered in his hand. Simultaneously Starrett and Dancret pressed close. Their movement gave him the one advantage he needed. He thrust his hand into the Frenchman’s pocket, plucked out the gun and as he did so landed a side kick that caught Starrett in the groin. The big man rolled over, groaning. Graydon