They lifted the body and bore it back to the wretched bed of straw, on which they tenderly placed it.
"The idol—the golden image?" said the professor. "You must not forget that, Frank. You have it?"
"Little danger that I shall forget it. It is here, where it fell from my fingers as I ran out."
He picked up the image, and placed it in one of his pockets.
Then, having covered the face of Jack Burk with his handkerchief, Frank led the way from the hut.
Their horses had been tethered near at hand, and they were soon mounted and riding away toward Mendoza.
The sun beat down hotly on the plain of white sand, and the sky was of a bright blue, such as Frank had never seen elsewhere.
Outside Mendoza was a narrow canal, but a few feet in width, and half filled with water, from which rose little whiffs of hot steam.
Along the side of the canal was a staggering rude stone wall, fringed with bushes in strips and clumps.
Beyond the canal, which fixed the boundary of the plain of sand, through vistas of tree trunks, could be seen glimpses of brown fields, fading away into pale pink, violet, and green.