toward the mouth of the tunnel. A few hundred feet fromthe entrance Drake stopped. He picked up a tommy gun where it had beendropped by the fleeing gunmen. Going forward more slowly they sawthree men at the entrance, guns pointed into the darkness.
On one knee, Drake fingered the trigger. He picked up a large rockwith his free hand and tossed it ten feet to one side. It struck witha loud thump. Immediately red fire cut loose around the place wherethe rock had hit. Drake brought his finger back lightly against thetrigger and watched coldly as the men went down. They pitched forwardlike alley pins, bleeding and screaming with the pain. There was notime to lose.
Dropping the gun he went forward swiftly, whipping an automatic fromhis pocket as he ran. Then, seeing Lardner, he took a head dive intothe deep snow as the vicious crack of lead whizzed over his head. Herolled over silently coming to his feet with a bound. Lardner, waitingby the plane, shot again and the lead burned into Drake's shoulder. Hesprang forward as Lardner's foot lifted toward the open door to thecabin.
Clutching his foot, Drake jerked the man back into the snow with allhis strength and they rolled into a white, seething mass of fury. Witha short, terrifying blow on the chin he snapped the man's headbackward. It twitched queerly and his eyes bulged. Lardner's neck wastwisted to one side, stiff and broken.
"The diamond?" Puffy was at his side. Jim Drake bent over the dyingman, watched his face as it twitched in pain.
"You want the girl," Lardner croaked. "You'll never get her. Evenwith the diamond, you'll never...."
His body relaxed suddenly, as though deflated of life. Drake pushedhim back into the drifted snow, a look of disgust in his cold eyes.
* * * * *
"Give me that paste imitation," Drake said. "Perhaps somehow...?"
Silvaris nodded helplessly.
"It's of no use," he groaned. "We tried, but it has no power."
Puffy, a knife in his hand once more, was working slowly over the gemwith its keen blade. His face was solemn and deep with interest. Inspite of themselves, the two men stood close to him watching the thin,case-like stuff that he peeled away from the surface.
"This ain't paste," he said excitedly. "It's a kind of silicate.Lardner must have dipped the gem into it and let the stuff harden as aprotective cover."
Drake took the gem eagerly.
"Then he realized that whatever the power was that this stone has, itcouldn't work unless the diamond itself was clean and unprotected."
The late afternoon sun was fading slowly beyond the far end of thefrozen lake. They turned and went into the cave of the Fox People.Perhaps the gem would work. But if it didn't, Lardner had died withthe secret on his lips.
"_You'll never get her_," he had said, "_even with the diamond_."
At the edge of the pit they stopped. Silvaris spoke in a faraway,silencing voice.
"Our lives depend on you. I am no longer able to control myself. In afew hours we will all be dead...."
He hesitated and the voice trailed off into nothingness. Before theireyes the man fell away into a light mist. Instead, a large fox stoodat Drake's feet, tail drooping and its eyes staring ahead dully.Silvaris the Fox King had returned to the stature of his people.
The chamber grew silent as death. The fox turned slowly and walkeddown the steps into the marble pit. He mixed quickly with the othersand no movement came from below. The spot of color over the thronewavered and went out. The cave was black as pitch.
"Now or never," Drake muttered. His tongue was rough and dry. Hishands shook under the weight of the diamond. It and it alone seemedalive and glittering in the cold unnatural tomb of the cave.
* * * * *
He went toward the bottom of the pit and gently forced his way throughthe sleeping animals. Up toward the throne his legs carried him stepby step, and each step was a million years. A torture of uncertaintyand hope.
He lifted the diamond and without hesitation pushed it with all hisstrength into the outstretched claws of the marble bear.
The Flaming Diamond suddenly glittered more powerfully than everbefore. The claws seemed to grasp it tightly, as though the power ofthe gem must stay where it could never be stolen again.
Bright flames of every hue sprang from the surfaces of the stone. Theybathed his body like colored lightning and he fell backward down thesteps, his arm upraised in protection. The place came alive withsound. Pealing, silvery tones of rich bell-like music tore the airasunder and the light of the diamond flashed warmly against the fleshof the girl on the throne.
On his feet now Drake stumbled toward Puffy Adams at the entrance ofthe chamber. Puffy was on his knees, face blinded with the light.
"Holy Ned," he shouted. "Now look what you've done, Cinderella."
Drake didn't answer. His eyes had grown accustomed to the glare. Thechamber was hot and brilliant with some new world born from the coldwomb of the old. Men and women arose from where animals had beenwaiting for the end.
Silvaris, the Fox King, came toward them. His face was alight withthanksgiving. Looking over his shoulder, Drake saw something that madehim lose all interest in the others. Something that he had prayed forwas taking place atop the polar bear's throne-back.
Sylvia Fanton, her body alive and glowing, sat upright. No falsemodesty marred the perfect, classically molded body. She slipped downfrom the beast's back and caressed its side with slim fingers. Thenshe came toward him slowly.
* * * * *
The men and women parted as she went among them gracefully. Her eyeswere wide and wonderfully warm as she came up the steps toward him.Her gaze never wavered from his. They had changed from a cold black tosoft, gold-flecked brown.
"I knew you would come," she said softly. "It was necessary that wehave each other."
With a happy sob she was in his arms. He only knew that her body waspressed tightly to his. That the warmth of the Flaming Diamond hadbrought her life, and that Jim Drake would never be lonely again.
Voices arose happily in the chamber. The heat, now, was almostunbearable. He heard Silvaris's voice say happily:
"It is good that the Ice Gods have played their part."
Strong arms were on Drake's shoulder. He stumbled after the men towardthe open valley. Then, with his emotions under control, he saw thetransformation that had taken place because he had done his job well.
"You have once more breathed life into a lost valley," Silvaris was athis side. "We will be forever thankful."
Drake looked down at the wisp of loveliness at his side. She waspartly clothed now in a small fur jacket. Somehow it displayed ratherthan enshrouded her charms.
Away toward the head of the lake frozen cliffs jutted up to the skyfrom green, lush fields of deep grass. The valley had come suddenlyalive. Trees waved gently under the warm wind that rushed from thecave. Small cabins were visible where they had been brought to lifefrom under the deep snow. Deep flower-splashed meadows crept to thewater's edge and the ice of the lake was gone. This, he realized witha lump in his throat, was the magic power of the Flaming Diamond.
"The plane is ready," Silvaris reminded him. "It is best that youleave while my people will let you. They are very grateful."
Jim Drake looked questioningly at the girl. Her eyes answered his witha smile. As much as she loved the Fox People, her place was with him.
They went slowly toward the waiting plane.
* * * * *
Drake looked back once as he sent the big ship skimming along themeadow at the far end of the lake. Silvaris and his people weregathered in a tight, worshipping little group, watching the bird planetake to the air.
At three thousand feet he leveled off. Something soft and warm brushedhis cheek. He turned and saw Sylvia's eyes close to his, warm andpromising.
The valley was no longer visible. From the air one could see onlyvast sweeps of snow and ice. The secret of the Fox People was wellhidden.
"Well
," Puffy said from behind them, "Tiffany will never see anotherdiamond to equal that one."
"Everyone is happy," Drake answered.
Adams chuckled.
"Cinderella Drake found the silver slipper after all," he said. "Andman, what a queen there was in it."
Sylvia blushed prettily.
"I'll try to dress a little more modestly in civilization," sheoffered.
"Not for me," Drake urged. "When a man comes home from a hard day'swork shooting down Japs, he likes to see as much of his wife aspossible. Namely, in a very small fox fur."
"Yea!" Puffy said. "Guess you're right. Excuse me while I go curl upwith a good book."
He blundered noisily toward the row of empty berths at the rear of theplane.
* * * * *
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