Page:Gaston Leroux--The bride of the sun.djvu/258

244, asked nobody's permission, and since his daughter was to be wedded to the Sun, it was the least of things that he should be present at the marriage, and particularly as he had planned it all so carefully! It had taken him years to find the Temple of Death, but with patience all things could be done. There was not one dried-up river-bed underground, not a deserted gold-mine which he did not know so well that he could find his way about it with his eyes shut.

And what fortunes he had discovered under the earth; a fortune equal to all the fortunes on earth! It was obvious that the Incas must have got their gold somewhere. Well, he had discovered where! There was plenty of it left, plenty of it left!… One day, some clever young engineer would find out, and he would only have to stoop to be as rich as Crœsus. (A bitter smile from the young engineer, whose thoughts were far from such things.)… But he, Orellana, did not give a fig for all the gold in creation. He loved only his daughter, whom the Indians had taken to the Temple of Death, and it was only the Temple of Death which he had sought. It had taken him years, but now everything was ready and he was going to save her. He had waited long enough to kiss her again! Ten whole years!

So the old man wandered on, while Dick