“No.”
“What, then?”
“There must be a spring of good water somewhere down at the bottom, and this was of great value to the people who built this place on the rock. Shall we go any farther?”
“Yes, I want to see the spring,” said Lawrence. “I am not so frightened now.”
“There is quite a current of air here,” said Yussuf, when they had descended another hundred yards or so. “The spring must be in the open air, and out by the mountain side.”
Lawrence was too intent upon his feet to answer, and they descended another fifty yards, when Yussuf stopped, for the way was impeded by a piled-up mass of fallen stones, and on looking up to see if they were from the roof they found that the arching had ceased, and that the roof was the natural rock of wedged-in masses fallen from above.
“We can get no farther,” said Yussuf, holding the lamp above his head.
“Look, look!” said Lawrence softly; “there is a light out there.”
Yussuf looked straight before him; and placing the lamp upon the ground, and shading it with his coat, there, sure enough, not more than a dozen yards away, was a patch of light—blight moonlight.
“I was wrong,” said Yussuf calmly; “this is not the way to a spring, but a road from that temple down to some pathway along by the side of the mountain, and closed up by these fallen stones. Lawrence effendi, we shall not want my ropes to descend from the walls. You have found a way out of the old place that has lain hidden for hundreds of years.”