Manchurian Books

At my touch she wakened; looked at me
wanderingly; raised herself on a hand.
"'Dave!' she said, 'I slept--after all.' She saw the despair on my
face and leaped to her feet. 'Dave!' she cried. 'What is it? Where's
Charles?'
"I lighted a fire before I spoke. Then I told her. And for the
balance of that night we sat before the flames, arms around each
other--like two frightened children."
Abruptly Throckmartin held his hands out to me appealingly.
"Walter, old friend!" he cried. "Don't look at me as though I were
mad. It's truth, absolute truth. Wait--" I comforted him as well as I
could. After a little time he took up his story.
"Never," he said, "did man welcome the sun as we did that morning. A
soon as it had risen we went back to the courtyard. The walls whereon
I had seen Stanton were black and silent. The terraces were as they
had been. The grey slab was in its place. In the shallow hollow at its
base was--nothing. Nothing--nothing was there anywhere on the islet
of Stanton--not a trace.


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