Marching Sands
in this place Mary Hastings might be found. It was a guess; but a guess was better than nothing.
When they came to the first stone heaps, Gray halted his guide.
"You told me once," he whispered, "that Sungan had a series of underground passages. Take me down into these."
"Through the lepers' dwellings?"
Gray nodded silently. Delabar was shivering— an old trick of his, when nervous.
"It is madness, Captain Gray!" he chattered. "You do not know"
"I know what you told me. Likewise that you don't want me to get into these temples. Step out!"
Delabar glanced around in despair and led the way through the bushes. Once the American caught the gleam of a fire and saw a group of lepers squatting about a blaze in which they were toasting meat. At the edge of the firelight starved dogs crouched.
They came to an excavation in the ground, lined with stone. Delabar pointed to steps leading downward into darkness.
"An old well," he whispered. "It is dry, now. A passage runs from it to the inner buildings."
He seemed familiar with the way, and Gray followed closely. The steps wound down for some dis-
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