Chapter Fifty One.
Loosening the Stones.
“Stop, Griggs!” cried Chris in a hoarse whisper, for he dared not shout; but it seemed as if their brave companion had not heard. One minute he was talking with them, the next he was gone, and had hardly made a sound.
“Hah!” sighed the doctor. “Now it has come to the point I feel as if we have let the gallant fellow go straight to his death.”
“Lee!” cried Bourne in a voice of anguish. “Don’t say that!”
“I have said it,” said the doctor bitterly; “and now it is too late I feel that it is true. The whole business looks black, and as desperate as our mad search out here for the old golden city.”
He ceased speaking, and Chris gripped Ned by the arm, for he shared his father’s feeling of despair.
The silence was broken by Bourne.
“It is too late to look back,” he said gravely. “We have made the venture, and must carry it out like men.”
“Of course,” cried Wilton firmly. “Come, doctor, you are captain. I don’t call this square of you to put us all out of heart. This is making the worst of it, with a vengeance.”