XI

The Flame-Tipped Shadows

Marakinoff nodded his head solemnly as Olaf finished.

“ Da! ” he said. “That which comes from here took them both⁠—the woman and the child. Da! They came clasped within it and the stone shut upon them. But why it left the child behind I do not understand.”

“How do you know that?” I cried in amazement.

“Because I saw it,” answered Marakinoff simply. “Not only did I see it, but hardly had I time to make escape through the entrance before it passed whirling and murmuring and its bell sounds all joyous. Da! It was what you call the squeak close, that.”

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