Okoya answered readily, for this query was almost a relief,--a diversion
which enabled him to subdue his agitation. "Tyope Tihua," he said
hastily, "wanted to know if I had seen any mountain sheep. I told him
that I had only seen bear-tracks. Let him follow those," he growled.
"Come on, satyumishe, it is getting late."

While this conversation had been carried on, the boys, now hurrying and
now slackening their pace, had arrived within a short distance of the
tall clay-pile, which was seen to be a high polygonal building,
apparently closed on all sides. Between them and this edifice there was
still another lower one, not unlike an irregular honeycomb. About forty
cells, separated from each other by walls of earth, carried up from the
ground to a few inches above the terraced roof, constituted a
ground-floor on which rested a group of not more than a dozen similar
cells. The walls of this structure were of stones, irregularly broken
and clumsily piled, but they were covered by a thick coating of clay so
that nothing of the rough core remained visible. Instead of doors or
entrances, air-holes, round or oval, perforated these walls.

The house appeared empty. No smoke flitted over the flat roof; the
coating was so recent that many places were hardly dry.

[Illustration: (Upper picture) A modern Indian Dance]

[Illustration: (Lower picture) An estufa]

North of this building, a circular structure thirty feet in diameter
rose a few feet only above the soil, like the upper part of a sunken
cylinder. Its top was flat, and large flags of stone formed a rough
staircase leading to its roof. In the centre, a square opening appeared,