Indiana Jones and the Secretof the Sphinx Read Free

marbles swirled around the rim like water about to disappear down a drain. The weapons and the pieces of clay and bone, which did not roll, slid directly into the depths of the pit.
    Indy took the bullwhip from his belt and, as he swirled around the rim, lashed out blindly for the edge. Above, the whip found something to bite into, and Indy was soon dangling along the far side of the pit while the deluge of marbles washed over him.
    Indy peered into the darkness.
    "Whatever is down there," Indy said, "it can't be good."
    He twisted for a moment before he managed to get a decent grip, then he began to haul himself, hand over hand, up the length of the twelve-foot whip. When he looked overhead, the beam of his electric lamp was reflected by a dozen glittering points of light. At first he thought he was looking up at the night sky, because the points seemed to make up familiar constellations—but the lights faded when he turned his head.
    The slope of the pit began to lessen, and Indy soon had his legs beneath him as he scaled the last few feet. When he reached the top, he stood.
    He felt as if he had come up through a drain in the bottom of the world. The end of the whip had caught the wing of a stone dragon that straddled the funnel on its hind legs and tail and that held the moon in its jaws. Indy knelt down, unsnared the whip, and became entranced as his lamp revealed the seas and craters etched on the ivory moon. It was about the size of a cantaloupe. The harsh electric light bounced from its ivory surface and bathed the chamber in soft, artificial moonlight. Suddenly aware that thousands of things sparkled in his peripheral vision, Indy turned his head.
    Indy found himself in the middle of a jeweled sea, traversed by miniature sailing ships of silver and gold. Above, a canopy of diamonds shone in a midnight sky. The ceiling looked like an inverted bowl studded with jewels, and he could just touch the highest point with his fingertips. The floor of the chamber was flat and appeared to be about fifty feet in diameter. Continents were represented by patches of brown and green, but they were not arranged in the familiar pattern that Indy had become accustomed to since grade school. Instead, they were all a jumble, with Africa, India, and Asia encompassed by a single sea. The Americas and the poles were missing, and the world apparently ended just beyond southern Europe. The continents were studded with landmarks in precious metals.
    Indy was off the coast of a storybook China, where a Great (but miniature) Wall serpentined around foothills of jade. The Yangtze and its tributaries were flowing mercury. The center of the universe, Peking, was marked by a glittering temple.
    Indy was stunned. During a more rational moment, his senses might have reeled at the sheer volume of treasure in the room, in terms of monetary and historical value. But Indy was enchanted, caught in the spell of Qin's perfect world, half believing that he must be dreaming in his bed at the little house in Princeton, New Jersey. Gulliver-like, Indy stepped over the rim of the funnel and reached down to touch the bejeweled world.
    His weight activated some ancient leveling device. Behind him, the moon fell from the dragon's jaws and began to swirl down the funnel. He dove after it, managed to get his fingertips on it, but was suddenly jerked back. The strap of his satchel had caught on one of the claws of the dragon's feet, and he hung upside down beneath the stone monster while the moon circled the neck of the funnel, then disappeared.
    Indy closed his eyes and listened to the pale orb rattle down a system of pipes below him. Then there was a sharp mechanical sound, followed by the gurgle of water.
    This might be bad, Indy said to himself as he tried to untangle the strap. He was unsure whether he would be safer remaining in the treasure room or risking escape through the series of traps that he knew must lie beneath him.
    Already a fine mist was wetting his