“Has anybody else ever bathed in the pool?”
“Oh, yes; a dozen or more. But not until a few years ago; none of our people would ever believe the story before.”
“Then some do believe it now?”
“Yes, a few, and there must be something wonderful about the crystal waters of the fountain, for those who have bathed in it have never visibly grown older.”
“I think I shall have to take a bath in it some day myself,” said Dick, with a smile.
“And I, too,” replied Olive, thinking he meant it. “It would be so nice, when we are married, to go on living and never grow old, with no fear of dying, unless through some accident. Could anyone ask for anything more than that?”
Dick was about to make a reply, when the report of a rifle rang out close by.
Hastily excusing himself, he dashed from the room outside.
He beheld the man known as Reginald Lacy fleeing across the level country beneath the opening in the roof, and after him, in hot pursuit, was Philander Owens, a still smoking rifle in his hands.