"It would mean the short fall here," said Kendric musingly, "the steep
slide and no doubt another drop at the end. We wouldn't be able to see
them at first. But someway, I don't believe they are dead!"
He did not explain then; it would take too long and they had their own
salvation to work out. But here was his thought: Zoraida had dropped
back into the gardens of the golden king. He did not believe she would
be able to climb up this way again. And he did not believe that she
would have with her the many keys needed to open the way she knew. It
impressed him that here might be the judgment of a just God--Zoraida
immured for all time in the heart of ancient Mexico. Zoraida with her
priests and young men and children whom her stern decree had imprisoned
here. Zoraida and Ruiz Rios together in the place of hidden treasure.
CHAPTER XXII
REGARDING A NECKLACE OF PEARLS AND CERTAIN
PLANS OF TWO WHO WERE MEANT TO BE ONE
From afar, reaching them only faintly, came the sounds of men's voices,
Zoraida's men clamoring above, mystified and with ample cause.
"It may be our chance is now, not tonight," said Kendric. "Although
it's but a little way from the house some of them, if not all, will
have ridden; their horses will be down in the canon. If we can slip
out this way and come to the horses while they're looking for us up
there----"
"This way?" Betty for an instant wondered if he meant to follow Zoraida
and Rios.
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