floor before he could take a single forward step. How long he crept
on thus he could not guess; but at last, feeling that the tunnel's
length was interminable, and exhausted by his efforts, by terror,
and loss of sleep, he determined to lie down and rest before
proceeding farther.

When he awoke there was no change in the surrounding blackness.
He might have slept a second or a day--he could not know; but that
he had slept for some time was attested by the fact that he felt
refreshed and hungry.

Again he commenced his groping advance; but this time he had gone
but a short distance when he emerged into a room, which was lighted
through an opening in the ceiling, from which a flight of concrete
steps led downward to the floor of the chamber.

Above him, through the aperture, Werper could see sunlight glancing
from massive columns, which were twined about by clinging vines.
He listened; but he heard no sound other than the soughing of the
wind through leafy branches, the hoarse cries of birds, and the
chattering of monkeys.

Boldly he ascended the stairway, to find himself in a circular
court. Just before him stood a stone altar, stained with rusty-brown
discolorations. At the time Werper gave no thought to an explanation
of these stains--later their origin became all too hideously apparent
to him.

Beside the opening in the floor, just behind the altar, through
which he had entered the court from the subterranean chamber below,