CHAPTER XIII.
What I could have said at that moment could scarcely be written or spoken by any one with a regard for the proprieties. And all I could have said would have been inadequate through lack of vocabulary. I stood there too heavily charged to speak a single word. Wardy broke the spell by a roar of inordinate laughter.
“Well,” said I hopefully, “if the worst comes to worst, we can go back to the island temple and get it correctly, can’t we?”
“I—I—I daren’t take you back!” exclaimed the doctor helplessly. “Ixtual would desert, rally his people, and we should all be killed! You don’t know how difficult it was to—to——”
There was something so pitiable in his dejection, and disappointment, and self-accusation that I hadn’t the heart to be angry with him.
“I wouldn’t care for myself
