How marvellously too your plan to secure a husband who loved you for yourself, instead of a fortune hunter, succeeded. As long as I live I shall never forget the McKay’s face when he learned that it was he who had married the real heiress to the Hart millions.
It is good to think of these things as I laugh little in these days.
My conviction that Lulluma got back safely remains unshakable. I believe that in all her spirit travels she comes to me here and at times I can almost feel the warmth of her beside me. But even if that is sheer imagination she was carrying enough fruit to satisfy her hunger and thirst for a week and I doubt if she had to remain hidden more than a few hours. The herd would certainly have returned to the harbour for their next feed of fish and after that the road would have been clear for her to repass the barrier.
Immediate discovery after she had left us was her only real danger, but she was swifter of foot than the beast men and possessed those special senses, to guide her through that maze of tunnels.
She is living still—I know it—less than twelve miles distant from where I am writing now—safe in that secret island blessed by eternal Spring.
If I could once locate the wrecked entrance to the underworld, through which we returned to pick up the threads of our previous lives again, the rest would be easy. In company with a few stout fellows armed with machine guns those brutes which are neither animals nor men would prove no serious obstacle. Within four hours’ march of this barren shore I should be able to look upon Lulluma’s face again—the only thing I live for.
That I am so near her and yet separated from her by a barrier more difficult to cross than the seas from pole to pole causes me, at times, to go almost frantic with frustration, but my life is pledged to finding my way back to that enchanted garden where she dwells.
She was less than divine yet more than human and it never ceases to amaze me that one so infinitely gentle could be so splendidly courageous. For all those years she had known a faultless existence yet she abandoned it willingly in order to save us as, without her guidance, we would never have come through.
That she gave me her love, even for a brief season, has lifted me too a little towards the Gods.
I crave for the sound of her laughter as a man lost in the desert thirsts for water and, whether I find her again in this life or die here first, all that was my heart remains for ever with Lulluma.
A Note on the Author
DENNIS WHEATLEY
Dennis Wheatley (1897 - 1977) was an English author whose prolific output of stylish thrillers and occult novels made him one of the world’s best-selling writers from the 1930s through the 1960s.
Wheatley was the eldest of three children, and his parents were the owners of Wheatley & Son of Mayfair, a wine business. He admitted to little aptitude for schooling, and was expelled from Dulwich College, London. In 1919 he assumed management of the family wine business but in 1931, after a decline in business due to the depression, he began writing.
His first book, The Forbidden Territory, became a bestseller overnight, and since then his books have sold over 50 million copies worldwide. During the 1960s, his publishers sold one million copies of Wheatley titles per year, and his Gregory Sallust series was one of the main inspirations for Ian Fleming’s James Bond stories.
During the Second World War, Wheatley was a member of the London Controlling Section, which secretly coordinated strategic military deception and cover plans. His literary talents gained him employment with planning staffs for the War Office. He wrote numerous papers for the War Office, including suggestions for dealing with a German invasion of Britain.
Dennis Wheatley died on 11th November 1977. During his life he wrote over 70 books and sold over 50 million copies.
Discover books by Dennis Wheatleypublished by Bloomsbury Reader at
www.bloomsbury.com/DennisWheatley
Duke de Richleau
The Forbidden Territory
The Devil Rides Out
The Golden Spaniard
Three Inquisitive People
Strange Conflict
CodewordGolden Fleece
The Second Seal
The Prisoner in the Mask
Vendetta in Spain
Dangerous Inheritance
Gateway to Hell
Gregory Sallust
Black August
Contraband
The Scarlet Impostor
Faked Passports
The Black Baroness
V for Vengeance
Come into My Parlour
The Island Where Time Stands Still
Traitors’ Gate
They Used Dark Forces
The White Witch of the South Seas
Julian Day
The Quest of Julian Day
The Sword of Fate
Bill for the Use of a Body
Roger Brook
The Launching of Roger Brook
The Shadow of Tyburn Tree
The Rising Storm
The Man Who Killed the King
The Dark Secret of Josephine
The Rape of Venice
The Sultan’s Daughter
The Wanton Princess
Evil in a Mask
The Ravishing of Lady Mary Ware
The Irish Witch
Desperate Measures
Molly Fountain
To the Devil a Daughter
The Satanist
Lost World
They Found Atlantis
Uncharted Seas
The Man Who Missed the War
Espionage
Mayhem in Greece
The Eunuch of Stamboul
The Fabulous Valley
The Strange Story of Linda Lee
Such Power is Dangerous
The Secret War
Science Fiction
Sixty Days to Live
Star of Ill-Omen
Black Magic
The Haunting of Toby Jugg
The KA of Gifford Hillary
Unholy Crusade
Short Stories
Mediterranean Nights
Gunmen, Gallants and Ghosts
This electronic edition published in 2013 by Bloomsbury Reader
Bloomsbury Reader is a division of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 50 Bedford Square,
London WC1B 3DP
First published in 1972, by Hutchinson & Co
Copyright © 1972 Dennis Wheatley
All rights reserved
You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise
make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means
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printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the
publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication
may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The moral right of the author is asserted.
eISBN: 9781448212835
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They Found Atlantis Page 40