“And if worst comes to worst—”
He gripped his bow, nocked an arrow, then sat there breathless, waiting.
The thing that happened in the next sixty seconds was surprising and dramatic.
With astonishing speed the native glided down the ladder.
“He’s there! He—he’s looking in.”
Gripping his bow hard, Johnny took a long breath. He felt that the time had come for sending the arrow of warning. And yet—he wanted to know more. So he waited. The bronze figure, faintly illumined by the pale light from within, hung there for a few moments, motionless.
Then with the speed of thought, things happened. From within there came a sudden flash of blinding red light. The next instant the wall was a blank of darkness.
The whole thing was over in a space of time not measured by seconds, yet Johnny had seen it all. The native, his eyes distorted by fright, had leaped backward and down. Turning a complete somersault, he had gone speeding to earth, twenty feet below.
“He’ll be killed!” Johnny exclaimed aloud.
But no. The space at the foot of the wall was clear of brush. The next moment he saw the man plainly. He went skulking along the wall to at last lose himself in the shadows of some ancient palm trees.