With his goats around him, the blind youth began to leap down the mountain-side. He was as sure-footed as the goats, and it was extraordinary to watch him. The ponies followed, slipping a little in the steep places. They were tired now, and were glad to be going home.
Down they all went and down. Nora gave a sudden shout that made the others jump. “I can see Killimooin Castle. Hurrah! Another hour and we’ll be home!”
They rounded a bend and then suddenly saw a strange place built into the rocky mountain-side. They stopped and stared at it.
“What’s that?” asked Paul. Ranni shook his head. He did not know and neither did Pilescu.
“It looks like some sort of temple,” said Nora, who remembered seeing pictures of stone temples in her history book. But this one was unusual, because it seemed to be built into the rock. There was a great half-broken archway, with roughly-carved pillars each side.
“Beowald! Do you know what this place is?” asked Jack. The goatherd came back and stood beside Jack’s pony.
“It is old, very old,” he said. “It is a bad place. I think bad men once lived there, and were turned into stone for their wickedness. They are still there, for I have felt them with my hands.”
“What in the world does he mean?” said Peggy, quite frightened. “Stone men! He’s making it up!”
“Let’s go and see,” said Jack, who was very seldom afraid of anything.
“No, thank you!” said the girls at once. But the boys badly wanted to see inside the queer, ruined old place. Beowald would not go with them. He stayed with the two girls.