ye saw them, and in your ears they called aloud the sacred names. As a
maiden fair and white, and as a dwarf black and hideous, have they
come, and _Aca_ is the name of the maiden, and _Jal_ is the name of the
dwarf."

He ceased, and his voice died away in the echoes of the great place.
Once again there was silence, broken only by the seething sound of
waters and the indefinable murmur of an unseen throng beneath.

Leonard stood awhile, then edged himself gently forward with the design
of discovering where and upon what they were standing. His curiosity
soon met with a violent check, for before he had gone a yard he felt
that his right foot was dangling in space, and it was only by a strong
effort that he prevented himself from falling, whither he knew not.

Recovering his balance, he shuffled himself back again to the side of
Francisco, and whispered a warning to him not to move if he valued his
life. As Leonard spoke, he noticed that the blackness of the night
was turning grey with the light of the unrisen moon. Already her rays,
striking upwards, brightened the sky above and the mountains behind,
and from them fell a pale reflection, which grew gradually stronger and
clearer.

Now he could discover that close upon him to the left a black mass
towered high into the air, and that far beneath him gleamed something
like the foam on broken water. For a time he watched this water, or
whatever it might be, until a smothered exclamation from Francisco
caused him to look up again. As he looked, the edge of the moon rose
above the temple wall, and by slow degrees a wonderful sight was
revealed to him. Not till the moon was fully visible did he see