Her features became smooth once more and she obeyed the command. She said very distinctly this time.
“The altar is here.”
“Below us?”
“Here.”
He doubted––doubted even as the blood rushed through his veins with the gladness of her words. He doubted as one will to prolong the joy of the truth. But 301 there still remained much else to be learned. It was possible that the treasure was not so great as had been reported. If only she could see it lying there; if only she could tell him of the bars of yellow gold, of the glittering heaps of precious stones, of the jumbled pile of golden plate which had lain there for so long! The thought of it was enough to start the fever of desire. He wished even that he could force her to go down there and bring up to him a bit that he himself could touch and see and weigh. As he stood beside her with the lust of this thing in his eyes, a shadow detached itself from the shore. It may have been only the reflection of a tiny cloud. But there were no clouds. It may have been just a bit of driftwood. But it moved slowly and steadily towards the raft.
Sorez bent above the girl again.
“The Golden Man will tell you. Look into his eyes very hard.”
The girl grasped the image more tightly and obeyed.
“Now go below, deep––deep.”
For some reason, even as she had done in the room when first she had held this thing, she drew back in fear at this.