Dennis Wheatley - Unholy Crusade

When he had covered only a hundred yards it forked, and he took the path that appeared to lead more nearly to the valley. Ten minutes later Chela came to and began to moan; so he put her down and tried to comfort her. When she asked where Hunterscombe was, he told her and said that now their friend was clear of the sulphur fumes he stood a much better chance of living through the night than if he had continued to aggravate his wound by lurching along with them. On that assurance she made no further protest at their having abandoned him.

Adam gave her the other half tablet of morphia then, after resting for ten minutes, picked her up and resumed his trudge down the winding path. For half an hour he staggered on, resting from time to time, generally at places where the path forked, as it did at quite frequent intervals, so that is seemed as though the whole mountainside was a maze of goat tracks. Three times he took long pulls from the flask of brandy, now more than ever selfishly glad that he had not risked Hunterscombe's killing himself with it. Only those gulps of the sustaining spirit restored his energy enough for him to go on.

As they descended, he realised dully the change in the terrain. Soon after leaving the plateau with the cliff and cave, they were passing tufts of coarse grass and, here and there, bushes. Then they entered an area of man made terraces where low, stone walls supported narrow strips of cultivation. But the way down the mountain seemed endless. Slender as Chela was, she was tall for a woman and her weight on Adam's shoulders caused him to

bend almost double. In spite of the cold, he was sweating profusely and his legs ached intolerably.

When he set her down for the eighth time, he knew that he could carry her no further. To attempt it meant that, at the next rough patch, he would stumble and fall. Then they would roll down the steep path together and, perhaps, be unable to save themselves at the next bend from going over the edge of a ravine. For a while he sat hunched beside her, savouring the bitterness of defeat. Then he roused again, struck by a new thought. If he left her there and went on alone, he might yet find a farm at which he could get help. He told her of his idea, and she replied in a hoarse whisper.

`Darling, I'll hate your leaving me, but no ordinary man would have got me so far; so I'd probably have died up there. Now we are in cultivated land a farm can't be far off, if only you can find it. Try to, while I wait here for you, but… but will you ever be able to find me again?'

He handed her the torch. `I will if you can prevent yourself from passing out or falling asleep. Flash this every four or five minutes, then I'll be able to locate you.' Even talking now was an effort; so he kissed her on the cheek, got to his feet and forced its aching legs to carry him down the track.

The moon was now low in the sky, but its light saved him from blundering on uselessly until he dropped from sheer exhaustion. All sense of time had left him; but he could not have covered much more than three quarters of a mile when he happened to glance to his right and saw a cluster of low roofs, which he would have passed had not the moonlight revealed them to him.

Halting, he stared at them uncertainly for a moment, suddenly becoming conscious of a new danger. Soon after he had arrived in Mexico City he had been told that recently an aircraft bound for Acapulco had had to make a forced landing on the mountains. Primitive Indians from a nearby village had robbed the passengers and crew of all their possessions, then stripped and murdered them. Here, in this remote valley, the Indians might prove equally hostile and pitiless.

But there could be no going back now, with Chela up there alone on the mountainside. Whatever the risk, he must take any chance that offered to secure help to get her down. Bemused as his mind was with fatigue, he then remembered that he still had Alberuque’s pistol in his pocket. Taking it out with shaking hands, he withdrew the magazine and found that only one bullet had been fired from it. Ruefully, he realised that in his present state he would be incapable of taking proper aim with any weapon.

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But, if the Indians did prove hostile, the sight of it might at least overawe them.

He took another pull from the flask of brandy, straightened himself up and, with dragging feet, walked towards the silent group of buildings. As he approached, a dog began to bark, then a cock crowed raucously. Ignoring them, he went up to the door of the largest of the squat dwellings and, with the butt of his automatic, hammered hard upon it.

As soon as he heard sounds of movement inside, he put the pistol back in his pocket, so that he would not be taken for a bandit. A light then showed through some cracks in the door, there came the noise of a wooden bar being pulled back on the far side and the door swung open. Just inside it an Indian was standing, sideways on, holding up a lantern on a level with his head. Twelve feet away stood two others, covering Adam: the one with an old Service rifle, the other with an antiquated shotgun.

At the sight of him, their mouths fell open and their eyes opened wide with amazement. Lowering their weapons, they hastily crossed themselves, fell on their knees and bowed their heads.

For a few seconds he was equally nonplussed; then the explanation came to him. The lantern, shining full upon him, revealed his height and golden hair and beard. Added to which, although he had left his feather work robes with Hunterscombe, he had since become so dazed with fatigue and anxiety that he had not thought of taking off the ear rings that had been clipped to the lobes of his ears, the bracelets on his wrists or the splendid serpent insignia that hung by a thin chain on his chest; and all of them were flashing with jewels. They took him for Quetzalcoatl.

Rallying his strength, he spoke to them in Spanish, telling them that they had nothing to fear and that he needed their help. All three shook their heads, obviously not understanding. He then tried with the few words of Nahuatl that he could muster, but that, too, proved useless. Anxious to show his pacific intent, he put a hand under the arm of the man who held the lantern and raised him to his feet, then walked forward and did the same to the others. All three of them were trembling, but his smile reassured them. The eldest muttered some words in his dialect, bowed himself double, then left the room.

While he was absent, Adam took in the fact that he had been lucky to come upon a farm of some substance, instead of a native hovel in which a family and their livestock were all crowded together. The living room was quite large. It contained a cooking range, a dresser displaying two rows of cheap plates, a home made table, several stools and even an elbow chair. But evidently the men slept there, as there were three tumbled, straw stuffed palliasses spread out on the floor. Thankfully, he took the weight off his legs and sank down in the only chair.

When the elderly man returned, he brought with him two women. One was an old crone with a face like a wrinkled apple, he other a plump, passably good looking girl of about twenty five. The old woman was swathed in black garments; the young one had on a gay, coloured dressing gown and her black hair was done up in curlers. Both crossed themselves, and the mother, as Adam assumed her to be, regarded him with fear distended eyes, whereas those of the girl showed intense curiosity. Hopefully, Adam addressed her in Spanish.

She replied at once. `You do our humble house a great honour, Lord. My father, mother and brothers do not speak the tongue of the Gachupines but my father wishes me to say that we are your servants and everything here is yours.'

Having thanked her, Adam went on, `You will realise, senorita, that as a Man God, when I take human form I have all the weaknesses and needs of any ordinary man. Tonight I have travelled far and am very spent. I started out with a companion a lady. She is injured and still some way up the mountain. My most urgent need is help to bring her here.'