At last I took my place in the driving seat, and called to one of
the men without to fetch Dian. It happened that Hooja stood quite
close to the doorway of the prospector, so that it was he who,
without my knowledge, went to bring her; but how he succeeded in
accomplishing the fiendish thing he did, I cannot guess, unless
there were others in the plot to aid him. Nor can I believe that,
since all my people were loyal to me and would have made short
work of Hooja had he suggested the heartless scheme, even had he
had time to acquaint another with it. It was all done so quickly
that I may only believe that it was the result of sudden impulse,
aided by a number of, to Hooja, fortuitous circumstances occurring
at precisely the right moment.
All I know is that it was Hooja who brought Dian to the prospector,
still wrapped from head to toe in the skin of an enormous cave lion
which covered her since the Mahar prisoners had been brought into
camp. He deposited his burden in the seat beside me. I was all
ready to get under way. The good-byes had been said. Perry had
grasped my hand in the last, long farewell. I closed and barred the
outer and inner doors, took my seat again at the driving mechanism,
and pulled the starting lever.
As before on that far-gone night that had witnessed our first trial
of the iron monster, there was a frightful roaring beneath us--the
giant frame trembled and vibrated--there was a rush of sound as the
loose earth passed up through the hollow space between the inner
and outer jackets to be deposited in our wake.
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