Avon Fantasy Reader No. 7 — page 114: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

110 FRANK BELKNAP LONG, jR. atms and legs, I know that the body twisted and writhed in the cavern gloom, and tied itself into knots, and monstrous, fleshy folds. ae I can see it now, writhing and twisting in the shadows; and I see the severed head lying beside Miss Beardsley on the ground. The jaws open and close; and the eyes are amazed, almost indignant, like the eyes of a child who has been punished for what it does not consider a wrong. When I had finished, and the folds lay still, I got up and walked over to where Miss Beardsley lay upon the cold, hard ground. I realized that sym- pathy and pity would never do. Miss Beardsley needed more drastic medicine. “Get up!” I shouted at her. “I don’t intend to stand here.and wait for you. Get up!” : | Miss Beardsley moaned, and her lips quivered; but a pink tinge crept back into her cheeks. | “Get up at once!” I shouted. . A moment more and she was on her feet, her blue eyes flashing with anger, and a red blush covering her throat and cheeks. I knew then that she was saved, and I drew her quickly toward me, and away from the headless thing on the ground. ee | “We'll be in time for breakfast,” I told her. “I have ordered ostrich eggs and pomegranates. We shall sit on the terrace and watch the dawn come up over the desert!” __ ; “Oh, but my aunt never rises so early,” said Miss Beardsley. “For once,” I responded, “we shall do without a chaperon.” I led her out into the cool night. For a moment we stood under. the gray wall of the temple of Ishtar, and then we walked arm in arm, toward the hotel. “You are worth a dozen Ishtars,” I told her. a ag ; “That is not very complimentary,” she said. “To tell me that I am only worth—” In a moment my arms were about her, and I knew the sweet magic of her yielding body. 3 3 At noon my guide came to me. “You will never guess what we found in the ruin,” he said. : “A snake?” I asked. His face became horribly solemn. “Yes, and no! We found a headless woman! But that is not all. The gray sacrificial stone was covered with blood; and upon it lay the head of a snake—a hooded cobra!” COMIIEIOOKSHGO inn