“Could those stairs have just happened that way? Or did someone build them, think you?�
“Yes,� I replied, “those are the work of men, skilled men, too, for they are too regularly laid up to be by chance.�
“Yes, of course, and the images could never have come there by chance,� she admitted.
“Certainly not, but let us go nearer and ascend them,� I said, taking her hand and leading the way, and she was so preoccupied that she did not notice.
I observed, as we approached the stairs that the rock had been worn smooth by the wind and weather, or maybe by the passing of many feet, and the steps were quite practicable for ascent. The angle at which they rose was sharp, too.
“What is on top, think you?�
“I know not.�
“Wild men or savage beasts?� she faltered.
“The parchment said naught of animals or permanent inhabitants of this island,� I reassured her.
“No, that it did not,� she assented.