"'If I only could show the temple at Aphar! But it is forbidden. I dare not even mention its existence; moreover, it would be absolutely impossible for me, and still more for the foreigners, to get even a distant sight of the place.'
"I answered his thought aloud. 'Why are you afraid to speak to me of this temple? Do you not yet know that we are the all-powerful to whom silver is as nothing, and against whom none dare lift their hands?'
"'The Sahib is as a god among men,' he replied, 'but the god of this temple is more powerful than he. Thou seest into the hidden thoughts of men, but he sees all things, and his vengeance is terrible. None save his special servants may see his dwelling and live. Moreover to mention the name thereof is to cause his anger!'
"So great was the man's fear of this deity that it took me an hour before I could get the information required, and then it was chiefly owing to the fact that his thoughts were less under his control than his tongue.
"I reported my discovery to Kanwick, and on the following morning, unaccompanied by our guide, we went to reconnoitre, and if possible to devise some plan by which we might at least get a glimpse of this mysterious abode of the god.
"There was little difficulty in finding the rocky citadel which concealed this temple. We walked all round the foot of the precipice which cut it off from the plain. The cliffs which rose above us varied from two hundred to three hundred feet in height, and I judged that the surface on the top of them must extend over at least one hundred acres. But it seemed absolutely impossible to reach the higher land, though we examined the sides of the rock most carefully. There was no indication of a path which even a goat could climb; whoever ascended or descended must do so apparently by the aid of a rope or ladder let down from above. The plain on the side furthest from the town was thickly wooded, and not wishing to excite the curiosity of any one who might be watching us, we sat down in the shadow of some trees to talk the matter over. The very mystery of the place tempted us the more to make some desperate effort to overcome the difficulty of exploration.
"We were sitting about two hundred yards from the cliff, by the side of a stream which, we had noticed, flowed from a fissure in the rock. Whilst thus resting and talking, a strange thing happened. The noisy stream which flowed at our feet suddenly became silent; we looked down in surprise to find that now only a little trickle of water passed over its rocky bed. My companion jumped up in excitement and looked towards the crevice from which the water came. Signing to me to rise quietly, he pointed to the cliff which we could see through a gap in the trees. From out the fissure in the rock which a few minutes before was filled with water, we saw two men pass, clad in the yellow robes of mendicant priests. As they came out of the channel and made their way into the wood, the water once more dashed out of the rock with more than usual force, so that in another minute the stream at our feet was a roaring torrent.
"'The key is in our hands if we can use it,' my friend said as soon as he had satisfied himself that the priests were out of hearing. 'That is the gateway, and no doubt the inhabitants have some arrangement inside by which they can for a short time divert the water into a reservoir, and thereby open the passage or close it at will.'
"'Yes,' I replied, 'but I cannot agree with you that we have the key; they seem to keep that safely inside. If we want to get through we must wait patiently until they open the door for their friends, and then take French leave. Probably we shall soon wish we had kept outside. What do you think of doing?'
"'I shall get in at all risk,' he answered. 'It is too good an opportunity to lose; but let us go back now and make our plans, we can do nothing more at present, and if we are noticed our presence may cause suspicion.'