"Yes."
"In Lima?"
"Rather; for two years."
"You know a good deal about the place, I suppose?"
Blake shrugged his shoulders. "I knew more than was good for me," he said with a gloomy look.
"Have you ever come across this sort of thing?" asked Darrel, and produced the Blue Mummy.
"Heaven and earth!" cried Blake, his florid face growing white. "Where did you get that accursed image?"
CHAPTER XIV
[THE SECRET SOCIETY]
Frank was amazed by the look on Blake's face. He was quite livid, and an expression of horror was in his eyes. His brow was wet with perspiration, his strong frame trembled, and he seemed to be overcome with terror at the sight of the tomb image. Recollecting the behavior of Vass and Maria, the novelist began to think that the Blue Mummy was of the nature of a basilisk and rendered insane all who looked at it. From being gay and composed, Blake was now terror-stricken and nervous; that fatal image had transformed the bold, confident Irishman into a trembling and abject coward. So astonished was Darrel that he could not speak; and it was Roderick who broke the silence.