When the needle had at last traversed the dial, betokening the end of their journey, Ramey climbed once again to the trapdoor which was the machine's exit. Cautiously he lifted it an inch ... then a foot ... then threw it back with a cry of gay relief.
"Empty, Sheila! The Japs have gone. I guess they got tired looking for us." He chuckled. "No wonder. After all, we were there a couple of weeks. Coming?"
He helped her from the cubicle. Then, remembering Sugriva's last instructions, he set the dial of the machine to its return position, hooked a length of fine wire about the control lever and spun the length of the wire through the trapdoor into the altar room wherein they stood.
"This is our key," he said, "to them. And theirs to us. The doorway to Chitrakuta is always open so long as it remains."
And he pulled the wire. They heard no sound, felt no tremor, but as if it were a wraith dissolving in weaving mists, the outline of the time-cube thinned ... wavered ... and disappeared. Only a length of fine wire, whose dangling end hung curiously taut in midair, lent reassurance that the way to another world was still open. Ramey coiled the wire and concealed it beneath the pediment of a statue. Then he rose, emotions strangely chaotic. A sadness was upon him at leaving comrades beside whom he had fought and laughed and lived a great adventure. But he was glad, too, to be back in a world he knew, a world he could understand....
A call from Sheila roused him from his brief reverie. "See, Ramey? This was one of the carvings which always puzzled us most. Its meaning was obscure—then. But now it is simple to read."
And she pointed to one of the huge scenes carven on the temple walls. The scene of a frightful battle, a battle being waged by apes strangely garbed in the habiliments of men and towering giants. One corner of the great stone tapestry showed a fleet of crowded ships rushing in to a harbor, still another showed an ape-human dying with a great wound in his breast, while beside him, loosing a lightning bolt from a gigantic bow, stood a man....
"Then they did carve the record!" said Ramey hallowedly. "It—it gives me the creeps, Sheila. We just left them. We know they're still alive, and that this artistry is not yet even planned. But here it is—and here it has been for five thousand years. The story of the battle for Lanka."