（外文电子版资料）The.Seed.from.the.Sepulchre.docVIP

The Seed from the Sepulchre Clark Ashton Smith Yes, I found the place, said Falmer. Its a queer sort of place, pretty much as the legends describe it. He spat quickly into the fire, as if the act of speech had been physically distasteful to him, and, half averting his face from the scrutiny of Thone, stared with morose and somber eyes into the jungle-matted Venezuelan darkness. Thone, still weak and dizzy from the fever that had incapacitated him for continuing their journey to its end, was curiously puzzled. Falmer, he thought, had under- gone an inexplicable change during the three days of his absence; a change that was too elusive in some of its phases to be fully defined or delimited. Other phases, however, were all too obvious. Falmer, even during extreme hardship or illness, had heretofore been unquenchably loquacious and cheerful. Now he seemed sullen, uncommunicative, as if preoccupied with far-off things of disagreeable import. His bluff face had grown hollow-- even pointed-- and his eyes had narrowed to secretive slits. Thone was troubled by these changes, though he tried to dismiss his impressions as mere distem- pered fancies due to the influence of the ebbing fever. But cant you tell me what the place was like?, he persisted. There isnt much to tell, said Falmer, in a queer grumbling tone. Just a few crumbling walls and falling pillars. But didnt you find the burial-pit of the Indian legend, where the gold was supposed to be? I found it-- but there was no treasure. Falmers voice had taken on a forbidding surliness; and Thone decided to refrain from further questioning. I guess, he commented lightly, that we had better stick to orchid hunting. Treasure trove doesnt seem to be in our line. By the way, did you see any unusual flowers or plants during the trip? Hell, no, Falmer snapped. His face had gone sud- denly ashen in the firelight, and his eyes had assumed a set glare that might have meant either fear or anger. Shut up, cant you? I dont want to talk