Page:Gaston Leroux--The bride of the sun.djvu/194

180 will, and determined to save Maria-Teresa sooner or later. Hurry!"

"I hope you're right, but I don't believe it," replied Dick. "We'll have him cornered in a minute, and if he doesn't answer my questions properly, he'll be sorry."

"You must not forget, Dick, that they have hostages."

"Hostages which they will massacre even if we let Huascar go free, sir! I would give anything to wring his neck!"

"And I, boy, would give anything to save my children."

The Marquis' tone was so icy that Dick refrained from further comment.

Just before they reached the inn, Natividad noticed on the opposite pavement a tall old man leaning on a shepherd's crook, and watching the door through which Huascar had entered. A ragged cloak hung over his thin shoulders, and a straggling white beard framed a face so white that it was deathlike. Natividad stopped, and looked at him hard.

"I know that face," he muttered. "Who is it? Who is it?"

Don Christobal, entering the inn, told Dick that he was going to their room, and asked him to bring Huascar there. The stairs leading up to the first floor were just inside the archway,