DS001-THE MAN OF BRONZE by J.R.A

Author:J.R.A. [J.R.A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2011-04-26T23:20:54+00:00

Cure for Red Death

These the man in the serpent masquerade carried most carefully as he made his way in stealth toward the gilded pyramid.

WITHOUT being observed or arousing any slumbering Mayans, the snake man reached the pyramid. As he came near the monster pile of fabulously rich gold ore, he could not control his breathing, so strong was his lust for the yellow metal. The noisy purling of the stream of water down the pyramid side eliminated any chance of his being heard, though.

Up the steps the man felt his way in the intense darkness. The water raced by at his side. He reached the flattened top of the structure. There he felt about in the sepia murk until he found what he sought - a small, tanklike pool.

It was this pool that fed the racing brook down the pyramid side. Just how the pool was kept continuously supplied with water, in spite of its position high atop the pyramid, the man did not know or care.

He furtively lit a match.

The contents of the jar labeled Germ culture which carries Red Death, he emptied into the pool.

From experience, the fiend in the serpent mask knew the deadly germs would be fed down the pyramid water stream for about two days. And the entire clan of Mayans obtained their drinking water from that stream!

Two days and every person in the valley would be a victim of the gruesome Red Death. Only one thing could save them - treatment with the stuff in the other jar. Previously - for he had obtained many offerings of gold from this valley - the man in the snake mask had administered the cure exactly as he had the disease, by dumping it into the Mayan water supply.

It was because he saw the end of the golden offerings once Doc Savage appeared on the scene that the man had sought to keep Doc from reaching the Valley of the Vanished.

Carrying the empty jar, and the full jar of the cure, the man retreated down the pyramid. He made his way in silence to the remote end of the valley, where he had his hiding place. It was here he had concealed himself alter his plane pilot had dropped him by parachute into the valley the previous night.

En route, the man paused to smash the empty jar.

The clatter of the breaking glass instilled an ugly thought in his brain. He toyed with it.

"I will never learn the source of this gold from old Chaac," he growled. "And no one else knows the secret. So why should I trouble with curing them after they get sick?"

He made angry noises with his teeth. "If all in the valley were dead, I could take my time hunting the gold. And there is a fortune in that pyramid for the taking."

A mean grin crooked the lips back of the snake-head mask. "They will make many gold offerings before they find out I am not going to cure them!"

He had reached a decision that showed how evil and cruel he was.

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