" He could not detach the stone, so he fumbled farther along
the curbing. "Pearls, indeed! I would send a dozen men to hell for
one--"
O'Reilly had been standing petrified, his body forced tightly
against the rough surface behind him, following with strained
fascination the deliberate movements of the man above him; now he
saw Cobo, without the least apparent reason, twist and shudder,
saw him stiffen rigidly as if seized with a sudden cramp, saw his
eyes dilate and heard him heave a deep, whistling sigh. O'Reilly
could not imagine what ailed the fellow. For an eternity, so it
seemed, Cobo remained leaning upon his outspread arms, fixed in
that same attitude of paralysis--it looked almost as if he had
been startled by some sound close by. But manifestly that was not
the cause of his hesitation, for his face became convulsed and an
expression of blank and utter astonishment was stamped upon it.
The men stared fixedly at each other, O'Reilly with his head
thrown back, Cobo with his body propped rigidly upon wooden arms
and that peculiar shocked inquiry in his glaring eyes. But slowly
this expression changed; the colonel bent as if beneath a great
weight, his head rose and turned back upon his neck, he filled his
lungs with another wheezing sigh. "Christ! O Christ--" he
whispered.
His teeth ground together, his head began to wag upon his
shoulders; it dropped lower and lower; one hand slipped from its
hold and he lurched forward.
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