Indiana Jones and the Secretof the Sphinx Read Online Free PDF Page B

find and to send for the best doctor in the province.
    They looked at her blankly.
    She repeated the orders in Japanese, even more ferociously than before. Then she walked back into the room, where Miyamoto was cradling Sokai in his arms.
    "Is he dead?" she asked.
    Miyamoto shook his head.
    "But he might as well be," he said.

3

The Rope Trick

    Indy fell into the muddy street outside the prison and attempted a forward roll, but his nonresponsive shoulder left him on his back. His shoulder was throbbing and numb at the same time, the way your thumb is when you hit it with a hammer while trying to drive a nail. He didn't think the bullet had struck bone, but it was difficult to be sure. He grimaced and tucked his left arm protectively into his jacket, leaving the sleeve empty.
    Then he was on his feet and running.
    It was dusk and he made for the shadows that pooled beneath the gables of a deserted warehouse at the end of the street. Apart from a pair of chickens that scolded Indy for his rudeness, the street was deserted.
    Posters in Chinese and French tacked to the weathered fence declared that the warehouse had been seized by the Imperial Army, was the property of the emperor, and trespassers would be shot. Indy had some difficulty scaling the fence, and as he dropped to the ground on the other side, he could hear the steady tromp-tromp of boots coming down the street.
    The warehouse was a dark cave inside, and Indy could hear the cooing of pigeons in the rafters. He made his way quickly through the darkness, found a door at the rear of the building, shouldered his way past it, and discovered the end of a crooked, narrow alley.
    The alley was a makeshift home to many dozens of families who had been displaced by the Japanese, and Indy had to hurdle cooking fires, squeeze between packing crates, and duck beneath clotheslines. Once he had to flatten himself against a doorway as a squad of soldiers passed at the intersection of a nearby street, and he held his finger to his lips to urge quiet from a family living in a crate as they stared impassively at him and ate from bowls of cold rice.
    It was apparent that he was heading deeper into the older section of the city, but he had no idea which city. When he asked where he was, those brave enough to answer or to ask if he was hurt badly spoke a dialect he didn't understand. So he kept pressing on, hoping to find a landmark or some other sign that would give him a clue—and an idea of which way to run for safety. But every block looked the same as the last, other than its being more crowded and difficult to traverse.
    Exhausted, Indy finally slowed to a walk.
    A Japanese soldier on a motorcycle pulled up to the intersection of the last street Indy had crossed. He let the bike idle while he swung the handlebars to the left and right, searching the intersection with the beam of the headlight. The beam revealed the blood that Indy had trailed. The soldier shouted in Japanese and honked furiously to attract the attention of the other soldiers, then gunned the bike's engine and tore down the alley while refugees scrambled to get out of the way.
    Indy heard the shouts and began to run.
    The motorcycle soldier continued at breakneck speed down the alley, cutting through clotheslines and scattering cooking fires. He finally hit a clothesline that refused to yield, and that promptly snatched him from the seat of the bike.
    Indy emerged from the alley into a public square in the city's old quarter. A thousand or more people were standing shoulder to shoulder to see a performance taking place in the center of the square on a traveling stage made from an old flatbed wagon. The stage was lit by hanging lanterns and candle-powered footlights.
    A blonde woman in dark robes covered with the usual assortment of hex symbols delivered a magician's patter in English, assisted by a dark-haired girl of perhaps sixteen. The teenaged assistant wore a yellow, loose-fitting silk outfit, including a