"Burroughs, Edgar Rice - The Mad King" - читать интересную книгу автора (Burroughs Edgar Rice)

Just then a little puff of smoke arose from the machine,
followed by a tongue of yellow flame. Barney had already
started toward the horse.

"Please don't go," begged the girl. "I am sure that he is
quite dead, and it wouldn't be safe for you down there now.
The gasoline tank may explode any minute."

Barney stopped.

"Yes, he is dead all right," he said, "but all my belongings
are down there. My guns, six-shooters and all my ammuni-
tion. And," he added ruefully, "I've heard so much about
the brigands that infest these mountains."

The girl laughed.

"Those stories are really exaggerated," she said. "I was
born in Lutha, and except for a few months each year have
always lived here, and though I ride much I have never
seen a brigand. You need not be afraid."

Barney Custer looked up at her quickly, and then he
grinned. His only fear had been that he would not meet
brigands, for Mr. Bernard Custer, Jr., was young and the
spirit of Romance and Adventure breathed strong within
him.

"Why do you smile?" asked the girl.

"At our dilemma," evaded Barney. "Have you paused to
consider our situation?"

The girl smiled, too.

"It is most unconventional," she said. "On foot and alone
in the mountains, far from home, and we do not even know
each other's name."

"Pardon me," cried Barney, bowing low. "Permit me to
introduce myself. I am," and then to the spirits of Romance
and Adventure was added a third, the spirit of Deviltry, "I
am the mad king of Lutha."



II

OVER THE PRECIPICE