Page:Gaston Leroux--The bride of the sun.djvu/162

148 those high-priests of the sacred slaughters.… They exist, señor."

"Do they?"

"You, señor, are a savant, and know about the Temple of Death. But do you know how many dead were found buried with the mummy of Huayna Capac? Four thousand, señor! Four thousand human lives sacrificed to honor the dead—some by suicide, others strangled, knifed or suffocated…. And the House of the Serpent.… But I prefer not to tell you what happened there."

"Tell me some other day…. You make an admirable guide. When we return, I will tell the supremo gobernio how grateful I am to them for having made the most erudite of police officers my cicerone."

"I beg your pardon, señor?"

Natividad, completely taken aback, could only stare at his interlocutor.

"Nothing, nothing! I am only joking!"

Scandalized at such levity, Natividad turned away with an indignant snort, while Uncle Francis chuckled. That worthy gentleman had now quite made up his mind that there was a plot afoot against him, and sternly refused to be "taken in." The joke was rather tiring physically, but he would not cry for mercy. As to all these hair-raising stories, he would take them