“That’s so,” said Briscoe. “You see, we’re in a tremendous canon, and the bottom is filled up by this river, which seems as if it would hold any amount of flood-water. I’ll be bound to say it’s full of fish, and that accounts for the Indians coming here with their nets and lines.”
“What’s to be done now?” said Brace.
“We must try the other end of the place, and see if we can’t get into the temple from there,” said Briscoe, who had taken out his knife to begin scraping the slime and moss from the face of the rocky wall till he had made a clean patch, which he examined with a pocket magnifier.
“There’s time to do a bit more to-day,” said Lynton, who was eager to go on exploring, and in obedience to an order the men rowed gently on past the front of the temple, till about a quarter of a mile farther on a similar landing to that which they had first approached was reached, and the party eagerly ascended the rough steps to a flat wharf or terrace like the other where the smouldering fires were found, ascended by another L-shaped passage to the next terrace, to find more and more rooms or cells, and then hurried on back till they came face to face with the blank rock which formed the other end of the temple.
“This must do for to-day,” said Sir Humphrey decisively. “Turn back now. To-morrow, if all’s well, we will ascend right to the top.”
“And look along there for the way into this place,” said Brace; “for way in there must be. Lead on, Mr Lynton; we’ll follow.”
The second mate started off with the men, and as soon as their backs were turned Briscoe stooped quickly and picked up one of the pieces of stone which had crumbled down from somewhere up the face of the cliff.
“What have you got there?” said Brace: “a piece of ancient carving?”
“Look,” said the American, in a low tone, and he handed the piece to Sir Humphrey, holding the side that had been downward as it lay on the stone-encumbered terrace, upward where the fracture looked comparatively new.
“Gold!” exclaimed Sir Humphrey, as he saw that the stone was webbed with glistening thready veins.