Francis hurried him past the heap of bones of his father before him, and led him into the inner chamber, where first of all, he prostrated himself before the two idols and prayed long and earnestly. After that, he studied certain of the strings very carefully. Then he made announcement, first in Maya, which Francis gave him to know was unintelligible, and next in broken Spanish:
"From the mouth of Chia to the ear of Hzatzl so is it written."
Francis listened to the cryptic utterance, glanced into the dark cavity of the goddess' mouth, stuck the blade of his hunting-knife into the key-hole of the god's monstrous ear, then tapped the stone with the hilt of his knife and declared the statue to be hollow. Back to Chia, he was tapping her to demonstrate her hollo wness, when the old Maya muttered:
"The feet of Chia rest upon nothingness."
Francis caught by the idea, made the old man verify the message by the knots.
"Her feet are large," Leoncia laughed, "but they rest on the solid rock-floor and not on nothingness."
Francis pushed against the female deity with his hand and found that she moved easily. Gripping her with both hands, he began to wrestle, moving her with quick jerks and twists.
"For the strong men and unafraid will Chia walk," the priest read. "But the next three knots declare: Beware! Beware! Beware!"
"Well, I guess, that nothingness, whatever it is, won't bite me," Francis chuckled, as he released the statue after shifting it a yard from its original position.
There, old lady, stand there for a while, or sit down if that will rest your feet. They ought to be tired after standing on nothing for so many centuries."