Working now upon a regular plan, the party began at one end of the
terrace and examined each cell in turn.
They had proceeded about a third of the way towards the other end, when,
to the surprise of all, although the openings like windows continued in
a regular row, the doorways ceased altogether, and when an attempt to
peer in at window after window was made, nothing whatever could be seen,
for within all was deep silent gloom.
They soon found that about a third part in the centre of the
two-hundred-feet-long terrace was like this: then the doorways began
again and continued right away to the end.
"Here, I want to see what's inside that middle part," said Briscoe. "I
propose that I have a rope round my waist, and that I climb in, and you
lower me down till I holloa out."
"And I propose," said Sir Humphrey, "that we leave that till another
day. Let's go down to the next terrace."
"At your orders, sir," said the American quietly. "I can wait."
The opening leading to the next terrace was sought for after the last
cells had been examined, and when discovered it was found to contain
nothing whatever but the crumbling dust of ages and the traces left by
birds; while, upon descending to this last terrace but one, they saw
that the construction was precisely the same as that of the terrace they
had just left--the central part being pierced only with windows, doored
cells being on either side.
"I feel more and more that I want to see what's inside there," said
Briscoe.
"Well, we'll have plenty of time to do so some other day, for we are not
going to move away from this place just yet," said Brace merrily. "Wait
till tomorrow, and we'll go in together. I fancy that we shall find it
is a temple, and full of mummies."
"Like as not," said Briscoe; "and if it is we shall find no end of
interesting things wrapped up with them, I should say. I daresay these
people did like the Egyptians used to do."
"Now," said Sir Humphrey, as the last cell was examined, "one more
terrace, and we shall have done all but this centre, and I propose to
leave that till to-morrow."
"No," cried Brace and Briscoe, in a breath.
"I want to sleep to-night," said the latter, "and I can't with this
mystery on my brain."
"Very well, then; we'll eat a bit of lunch, and then examine that."
As soon as the party had disposed of their meal, they left the entrance
to the shaft, walked along to the end of the terrace, and began to
examine the first cell.
Here a surprise awaited them, for the cell was double, had two windows
and a door at either end, there being no dividing wall, only a curious
construction in the middle, but so crumbled away that for some minutes
it was examined in vain, the loose stones about turned over and over,
and the dust raked here and there.
"I know," cried Brace at last: "it has been a kitchen."
"Right," said Briscoe: "must have been something of that sort. Let's
get on."
The next place was entered, and proved to be also double, but with only
one entrance, and that narrow.
Brace was the first to enter, and after a glance round and upward to see
if the roof had fallen in, he stood looking down at a heap of stones
which were thickly covered with the dust that had crumbled down and
accumulated.
"There's nothing to see here," he cried; "and the windows are nearly
choked up with growth."
"Yes, come back; these places are all the same," said Briscoe, gripping
him tightly by the arm; but, as he made way for Brace to pass him, and
the rest went on, he stooped down quickly and picked up a piece from the
heap of dust-covered stones and placed it in his pocket.
"Why did you do that?" said Brace, in a low voice.
"Don't ask questions now," whispered Briscoe. "I'll tell you soon.
Wait till we're out of hearing of the men."
Several more of the large double cells were inspected, and they all
seemed to have been used for other purposes than habitation, for various
stone objects lay about, and in two cases their aspect suggested that
they had been used for grain stores; but it was impossible to decide.
Then Brace's heart began to beat quickly with excitement, for he felt
that they were on the brink of a great discovery. Several windows were
passed which were heavily loaded with grotesque ornamentation; but there
was no door visible. The centre of the terrace was marked by a perfect
curtain of liana-like creepers and vines, which hung in festoons from on
high and almost completely hid the elaborately-carved front.
"There must be an entrance here," said the captain. "Out with your
jack-knives, my lads, and cut a way through."
It was no easy task, for the various creepers were interlaced and had
grown together so that saws and strong bill-hooks would have been more
suitable implements than knives; but the men worked away with a will,
being as eager as their superiors to get a glance into the strange place
which had kept them at bay so long.
A good half-hour's cutting and hacking was, however, necessary, two men
working at a time while the others dragged away the greenery, which they
tossed over the elaborately-carved colonnade into the river, where it
was slowly borne away along the canon.
At last the foremost man was nearly through, and, reaching up as high as
he could to divide a pale green strand which had grown almost in
darkness, and now hindered his way, he put all his strength out to sever
it with one cut, not anticipating that wood which had grown under such
conditions would be tender and soft, and, consequently, his knife went
through it as easily as if it had been a thick stick of rhubarb, and he
fell forward into the darkness upon a pile of dead wood and leafy
rubbish.
"Hurt yourself?" cried Brace, stepping forward, half in dread lest the
man should have been plunged into some deep pit.
"Not a bit, sir; only rolled down about a dozen steps, and--Oh, yah!
yah!" he yelled, uttering a horror-stricken cry; and then, as guns were
cocked in anticipation of seeing some savage beast of prey dash out, the
man came blundering up, stumbling over the heap of rubbish, and finally
dashed out on to the terrace, covered with dust and with his eyes
starting in a scared and terrified manner, as he sank down shuddering,
and uttered a groan.
"What's the matter? What is it, old matey?" cried one of the men; but
Brace, his brother, and the American stood fast with levelled guns and
fingers on the triggers.
"What is it, my lad?" cried the captain: "a jaguar?"
"Oh, no, sir; worse than that," faltered the man, wiping the sweat from
his face: "worser than that."
"What did you see then? Was it a great serpent? Speak up, lad."
"No, sir; I shouldn't have been skeared o' any serpent. It was a great
big Injun who had a lot o' greasy white snakes swinging about all round
his head, and he'd got his club ready to hit me. Ever so big, he was."
"That chap's telling a big lie," said Briscoe coolly, "only he thinks
he's telling the truth. There couldn't be any big Indian in there, and
if there were he wouldn't have a lot of greasy white snakes hanging
about his head. I'm going in to see for myself. Coming with me,
Brace?"
"Yes," was the reply, and, holding their pieces ready while their
companions crowded round the narrow entrance, the pair stepped boldly
but cautiously into the opening.
They found themselves descending rugged stair after stair, encumbered
with dead branches of creeper which cracked and snapped under their feet
at every moment, till they were about five feet below the level of the
terrace, with some dozens of greeny-white darkness-grown creeper strands
swinging to and fro from above, and just in front of them they could
dimly see, standing with uplifted menacing arm, what seemed to be a
hideously grotesque half-human half-animal figure, apparently blocking
the way.
"How are you, old chap?" said Briscoe quietly, staring at the figure.
"Long time since you've had any visitors, eh?"
"Why, it is a temple," cried Brace, in tones of suppressed excitement,
"and I suppose this is the idol the old people used to worship."
"And very bad taste too. Come in, everybody," cried Briscoe, and his
voice sounded weirdly strange as it echoed all round.
"No: stop at the entrance," cried Brace. "Did you hear what I said,
Free?"
"Yes: that it was a temple with an idol," his brother answered.
"Yes; but we must have more light before we proceed any farther, in case
of there being any terrible holes or pitfalls."
"Yes: be as well," said Briscoe; "but I'm beginning to see fairly now.
Why, Brace, lad," he continued, as the captain set the men to work at
once hacking away the growth of many generations from entrance door and
window, "it's as I expected: the temple runs up as high as three or four
of the terraces, and look: you can see the light from the upper windows,
showing the walls. It's a hugely big place, but I wish it wasn't so
dark down here."
"I'm getting used to it too," said Brace, in a voice full of excitement;
"but I'm afraid to move, in case of losing my footing."
"That's right; so am I. Look: can you see over yonder?"
"Yes; quite plainly now. There's what looks like an altar, and I can
see several more figures standing about."
"So can I. I wish we had a good strong light. Hah! that's right;
they're letting in the sunshine. Oh, we shall soon see."
"Look here," said Brace: "the place is very lofty, and there are windows
upward to take off the smoke. Let's make a fire of the dead wood lying
about here."
"That's a good thought," said Sir Humphrey; and five minutes afterwards
a match was applied to the heap of perfectly dry wood underfoot. It
caught fire at once and began blazing up, sending forth such a glow of
light that the men set up a cheer, drawn from them by the excitement and
wonder of the weird scene which confronted them.