Page:Allan Dunn--Dead Man's Gold.djvu/153

Rh "A little more of that, my bucko," "Lefty" said, finally, "and hall the gold in the bloomin' world hain't goin' to stop me from droppin' you where you'll fall the 'ardest and the furthest. Tyke that from me."

Healy essayed a jest but was careful not to go too far in words after that. The very strength that Larkin displayed in uphauling him was calculated to emphasize his ability to carry out his threat. Stone gave his back to the Cockney for the mounting of the rocky slide that had called out his special indignation and Larkin stuck his stubby fingers into a crevice, chinned himself, managed to get a knee over the edge, and disappeared for the moment.

"I've found the stone men," he called down presently. "It's a rum sight. 'And up 'Ealy, an' 'urry yerselves."

From the ledge he had gained they looked down upon a series of bowls, the shape of half saucers, built up and out from a long slant of the cliff. The rims were white as marble and the water within them purest ultramarine. Some dozen of these nested about a pool next to the cliff from which welled the main supply of the water that gently rippled over the edges of the parent pool to supply the rest. Into the depths of the main cistern Larkin pointed.

"You got to shade yer heyes," he said. "It must be hall of twenty or thirty feet deep and they're right at the bottom, side by heach. See 'em?"

"It was impossible to determine accurately the features or even the racial colour of the two shapes that showed dimly in the bowl like the forms of two