“It looks like one,” said Tom, as all three boys played their lights on the object in question. “But what are all those streaks down the side, I wonder.”
“Can’t you guess?” asked Phil, in a curious voice. “Those are bloodstains, Tom, in all probability. One of the favorite indoor sports of the Aztecs was offering up sacrifices to their gods.”
“I’ll bet you’re right!” exclaimed Dick. “And I remember reading that they didn’t stop at animals, either. Humans were the favorites, weren’t they, Phil?”
“I think so,” nodded Phil. “But let’s see what else we can find.”
The boys left the giant statue brooding in the gloom, and circled the interior. At one point they found an opening leading into another, smaller temple, in which was an altar elaborately carved with figures of men and beasts. At the back of this altar the flooring had broken away, and, peering into this opening, the boys could see a flight of rough stone steps leading downward.
Phil looked questioningly at the others, and they both nodded. Without further hesitation, Phil started down the steps, which had deep hollows worn in them by feet that had been dust for centuries. The steps went down steeply for perhaps twenty feet, and then the boys found themselves standing at the entrance to a dark tunnel, from which issued a strong draught of cold, damp air.
Starting down this, they soon found that the walls widened out, the roof sloped upward, and expanded into a big cave. The walls of this cave had numerous ledges projecting from them, and on these ledges were ranged rows of stone caskets. The boys surmised, and rightly, that this was the burial vault of the priests who had officiated in the temple above. A heavy dust lay thick over everything, and when the boys spoke, it was in hushed tones.
At the further side of the cave a door opened onto another tunnel, and after the boys had traversed this a short distance they found that the main passageway branched out into others, which in turn were subdivided. They kept on for a time, but at length Phil called a halt.
“We don’t seem to be getting anywhere, and if we’re not careful we stand a fine chance of getting lost,” he said. “I think we’d better start back.”
“So do I,” said Dick. “We’d better be careful of our flashlights, too. The battery in mine is beginning to get a little weak.”