It is a serpent
encircling the sun, which Lola Farjados induced you to have
tattooed when you were in Lima thirty years ago. Your eyes are
blue and full of light, and as you were twenty when I knew you,
the lapse of years has made you fifty--your present age."
"Shucks!" said Hervey coolly, and sat down to smoke.
Don Pedro turned to Archie and Braddock.
"Mr. Hope! Professor!" he remarked, "if you remember the
description I gave of Gustav Vasa, I appeal to you to see if it
does not exactly fit this man?"
"It does," said Archie unhesitatingly, "although I cannot see
the tattooed left wrist to which you refer."
Hervey, still smoking, made no offer to show the symbol, but
Braddock unexpectedly came to the assistance of Don Pedro.
"The man is Vasa right enough," he remarked abruptly. "Whether
he is Swedish or American I cannot say. But he is the same man I
met when I was in Lima thirty years ago, after the war."
Hervey slowly turned his blue eyes on the scientist with a
twinkle in their depths.
"So you recognized me?" he observed, with his Yankee drawl.
"I recognized you at the moment I hired you to take The Diver to
Malta to bring back that mummy," retorted Braddock, "but it
didn't suit my book to let on.
Pages:
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280