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CHAPTER XVI

THE STONE TABLE

Our feelings can hardly be described as we crept closer to the spot from which the scientist’s angry protest had gone up through the silence like a thin wire.  The loneliness of that day had been appalling.  I know that Edith Herndon’s quiet face was continually before my mental vision, while Holman’s actions convinced me that he was suffering acutely.  If we were certain that Leith intended to do no wrong to the party, the fact that he was within speaking distance of the two girls was particularly distressing after the knowledge we had gained in the night.  With extreme caution we wormed our way forward, the Professor’s piping voice acting as a verbal signpost in helping us to locate the spot where he was engaged in holding the argument.  We were close enough to hear his words, and our nerves were on the highest tension as he shrieked a defiance against some person near.  We had only one thought as to who that person could be.  The Professor was piling charges of treachery upon the head of a listener, and there was only one head on the Isle of Tears that contained enough villainy to make the charges possible!

“I will not sign the papers!” cried the scientist.  “I want my liberty, sir!  You are a scoundrel!  Where are my daughters?”

Holman, creeping a few inches in front, had drawn his revolver.  The blood pounded madly; through my brain.  We were within a few yards of Leith, and even as we moved snakily forward, the heavy bass voice of the scoundrel came to our ears.

“You stupid old fool!” he growled.  “You can demand all day and all night if it does you any good.  Do you know who I am?”

“I know you are a ruffian!” snapped the Professor.  “I know you are a rogue who has no respect for his word and honour.  I know you are a coward who insults women!”

“Go on,” mocked Leith.

“I’ve been a fool!” cried the old man.  “I was blinded to everything through my love of science.  Now I know that you lied.  I know you brought me here to rob me and insult my daughters.”

The sun had set, and the twilight made it difficult for us to locate the two men.  But we were close.  When Leith spoke again, his voice sounded so near that I started involuntarily, while Holman, resting upon one hand, parted the branches with the barrel of the revolver which he gripped in the other.

“But you will admit when all is over that I have shown you some wonderful things,” sneered Leith.

The Professor was silent a moment, as if endeavouring to fathom the meaning of the words, and we moved a few inches closer in the little interval.

“How?” asked the scientist.

Holman’s hand that gripped the revolver remained motionless.  Through a rift in the leafy curtain I caught a glimpse of a bulk that was within a yard of our hiding place, and I knew that the youngster was waiting for the brute to speak to make certain that he was covering the right man.  The silence was nerve-destroying.