“But how can it be?” protested Dick. “We’re in the heart of a wilderness here. Who’d drop a load of stone pillars down here, I’d like to know.”
“I’d like to know, too, and I propose that we investigate,” said Phil, scraping at the thick coating of moss that covered one of the columns. “Look here!” he exclaimed, a moment later. “Call me a Chinaman, if there aren’t carvings on this stone. Look here, fellows,” and the excited boys bent over the pillar, on which were carved characters and symbols of various kinds.
“That’s writing, all right, but whoever chipped that out, certainly didn’t understand English,” said Tom. “I can’t make out a word of it.”
“Oh, quit your fooling and be serious for once,” exclaimed Phil. “It looks to me as though we had discovered something big. You know that a few centuries ago the Aztecs had big cities and buildings, and we may have stumbled on the ruins of one. Let’s get a bite of lunch, and then we’ll go on an exploring expedition.”
The boys were almost too excited to eat, and it was not long before they were ready to test the truth of Phil’s theory.
The fallen pillars were thicker in the vicinity of the woods, and from this they inferred that if there actually was an old Aztec city here it must be among the trees, which had sprung up around the ancient buildings.
Accordingly, they entered the forest, climbing over fallen pillars and mounds of broken stones. They had struggled through the tangled vines and creepers only a little way, when they all stopped with exclamations of astonishment, and gazed wide-eyed at an imposing ruin that reared its huge bulk in their path.
CHAPTER XV
Menace of the Cave
Rows of big columns supported a carved and decorated portico, which, while it had crumbled away and fallen in many places, still showed enough of its original grandeur to convince the boys that it had been erected by craftsmen of no mean ability. Trees had sprouted and flourished in what had once been the temple sacred to the God of Fire. Great vines and creepers writhed and twisted about the columns, some of which had ceased to be supports for the vines, but were in reality kept by them from falling.
In the center of the ruined facade was a huge arch giving access to the interior. Black and mysterious it looked against the brightness outside, as though inviting the boys to explore its ancient secrets, but at the same time suggesting an indefinable menace to whoever should dare to profane its sacred precincts.