Page:Harold Lamb--Marching Sands.djvu/214

 failure. Wu Fang Chien is watching me. You can do nothing here. Go back, before we are seen together. Sungan is nothing but a leper colony. You were a fool to think otherwise."

"And the Wusun?"

"Lepers! They are the only ones here except the priests."

Gray's eyes hardened.

"A lie, Delabar. Why should Wu Fang Chien kill a dozen men to keep the English caravan and myself from Sungan?" He caught and held Delabar's startled gaze. "Where is Mary Hastings?"

"I—who is she?"

"You know, Delabar. The girl who came with the caravan. She was taken prisoner. Where is she?"

"I don't know."

Gray touched his automatic significantly.

"I want to know," he said quietly. "And you can tell me. It is more important than my life or your miserable existence. Where is Mary Hastings?"

Delabar cowered before the deadly purpose in the white man's eyes.

"I don't know, Captain Gray. Wu Fang Chien ordered that when the caravan was attacked, she should be brought to him. Not killed, but taken to him. Some of the priests seized her and took her to one of the inner courts of the city. At the time,