Pomp hesitated.

“Wha’ do yo’ fink ob leavin’ de Scorcher?” he asked.

“Shure, that will be all roight. Don’t yez have no fears about that, at all, at all!”

“A’right, I go yo’ I’sh. Jes’ yo’ lead de way an’ I follers on!”

“Which it’s proper yez should, considerin’ me superior advantages.” declared Barney, in his puffiest way. “Do yez see that big heap av sthone down yonder?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I believe that’s some koind av a ruined temple or the loikes, an’ we’ll thry that first off!”

“A’right, I’sh. Yo’ go ahead.”

In a few moments they were among the ruins of a huge building, which Barney said might have been a temple.

They passed among a heap of fallen pillars, and just as the others had done found a descending stairway.