“Then that is arranged; and it will take place in the great Temple of the White Priests that has been closed for so many years. Workmen are engaged upon it, and it is now being cleansed and renovated. It will be ready in time.
“The next thing I have to tell you is that Coryon has suffered his punishment, and is dead.”
“Coryon dead?” the other two exclaimed in a breath.
“He is dead,” Monella repeated solemnly. “It seems that during the night after we left, there were dreadful scenes in the amphitheatre. Those large reptiles—they are called ‘myrgolams’ here—came out of their pool and attacked the half-dead wretches entangled in the tree. But the branches tried hard to retain their victims, and so—well, you can almost imagine what took place. The creatures carried off the miserable beings in scraps; tore them piece by piece from the clutches of the branches till nothing was left!”
He paused for a moment, and his listeners shuddered.
“Thus it came about that the greedy tree was, after all, baulked of most of its intended victims; all, indeed, save three or four; though the deaths the others met with were not less horrible. Yesterday, finding the monster had no victims in its grasp, I ordered the separating door to be withdrawn. In a moment, Coryon was seized and carried up into its awful gorge. With that, the tale of this terrible tree must end. I have no heart to devote more criminals to it; though there are some among the prisoners who are scarcely less guilty than was Coryon. But these Sanaima will deal with; he will punish them as seems best to him; and I have set men to work to dig a mine from one of the cells so as to get underneath the tree. Then it can be blown up with gunpowder. And I designed to ask you to superintend the work for me,” turning to Templemore.
“That I will gladly do. And—the—reptiles?” Templemore was doubtful of the name.
“Kill them off, if you can, with bullets. And now, to turn to your own affairs. Think not I have forgotten them; I know you are anxious and will be getting restless and unhappy. As I said to you before, when you go away, you will not go empty-handed. On the contrary, you will carry with you such riches as will place you beyond the need of toil for the remainder of your life. I need not say, ‘Do not therefore be an idle man,’ for I know that you will never be. Whenever it pleases you to go, some of my people shall escort you through the wood to ‘Monella Lodge,’ as we called it, and there await you while you go on to Daranato and bring back such Indians as you require. Then, do you, in turn, with your Indians, re-escort my people to the cavern; for, you must remember, they are not used to forest life; nor can they, if left alone, protect themselves against wild animals. Will that please you?”
“Yes, truly it is all I can ask or wish for,” Templemore responded.