She grew serious.
“If I should come to rule my people,” was the slow answer, “I would command them to hate and to kill only the Spaniards. But I will never rule them, because I shall go with you to your own country, where you are the king, and help you to rule your subjects.”
I laughed at the idea, although the sentiment was so pretty. Duncan frowned at me. He did not tell the Indian maid that he was merely a bankrupt inventor, with no subjects and no wealth aside from the possession of his really wonderful machine. Why should he?
We now moved on again, following the natural ledge of rock that wound around the hill. The precipice beside it grew deeper and more dangerous as we advanced, and the ledge narrowed until often there was barely room for the machine to pass around a projection. Also the ledge sometimes inclined toward the chasm at an awkward angle that forced us to crawl cautiously along and rely upon the rubber tires to keep us from slipping off the rock entirely.
Not knowing from one moment to another what the windings of the ledge were about to disclose, it is obvious that our journey was as interesting as it was exciting. But we kept moving with dogged perseverance until, with the end almost in sight, we were brought to an abrupt halt by the total disappearance of the ledge itself.
With a precipice in front and one at our right, while a steep wall of rock towered at our left, we had no trouble to decide that we must go back by the same nerve-racking path we had come. This was the more embarrassing that we had no room to turn around, and it was no easy task to back the machine over the dangerous places.
Duncan made us all get out and walk. The way he steered the machine along its crab-like course filled me with wonder and admiration, and I am sure Ilalah considered him little less than a god.
We had dropped the dome top to bring the weight closer to the ground, and if the automobile chanced to slip over the edge Duncan would have a good show to leap out and save himself. Yet so dear was the machine to its inventor that I feel positive that Moit, at any time before Ilalah had enslaved him with her sweet face, would have gone to his death in it without hesitation rather than live to see it demolished. But the pretty Indian princess now possessed his heart as the automobile had possessed his brain, and with such a divided allegiance I looked to see him jump in case anything went wrong. But nothing did, and so the occasion to test the strength of his affection for the girl or the machine did not transpire. Knowing so accurately the capabilities of his marvelous invention, he was able to guide it safely until we reached once more the base of the hill and came upon level ground.
Then we all breathed again, and entering the car held a council to discuss our future actions.
“Isn’t the Atlantic coast inhabited by your people?” I asked Ilalah.