Drake clutched his companion's arm.
"Look!"
He pointed toward the low pit that surrounded the statue.
Puffy nodded.
"The biggest fox farm in the world," he said dryly. "Or I'm going nuts."
As their eyes grew accustomed to the changing light, the pit grew clear. The animals became visible against the floor of the pit. There were thousands of them lying about the chamber. They spread over the floor carpeting it with rich fur like a deep rug of precious black and silver.
One thing held Jim Drake spellbound. Every animal had its head lifted toward the throne atop the bear's back.
His eyes lifted again slowly. His vision broke through the bright haze of light. Stretched out in sleep across the stony back was the perfect nude figure of a girl. She seemed frozen in death, yet the bronzed flesh was alive and throbbing. It was the same girl he had saved from Wildwood Zoo—Sylvia Fanton!
