"But, look, Doc—" That was Red Barrett cudgelling his brow—"if this here place was discovered about 1860, the scientists ought to been able to figure it out by now. Ain't they no histories at all, no ideas how it come?"
Dr. Aiken's smile was scornful.
"Too many," he answered, "and too poor! For want of a better explanation, experts have decided that a race known as the 'Khmers' inhabited Angkor. They have even presumed to establish the period of occupancy: from about the 5th Century B.C. to the 14th Century of our Christian reckoning. Some of the more daring savants have attempted to trace the 'lineage' of Khmerian royalty.
"Gentlemen, believe me—these explanations are rank nonsense! Based on no valid records, facts, or suppositions! The learned M. Groslier, attempting to explain why Angkor Vat should lie deserted and forgotten for five hundred years in a jungle grave, presents the theory that the Khmers waged a war with the neighboring Thais, were defeated and forcibly driven from their national stronghold.
"Stupid poppycock! The weak Acadians of Nova Scotia were expelled from their homeland by armed force—yet within two generations seventy percent of them had drifted back—to tiny farms and wretched hamlets. But we are asked to believe that a great race meekly left its capital and never attempted to return!
"Yet—suppose that were true? A faint possibility, but let us grant it. Then why did not the conquerors move into occupy what must have been the most magnificent city on the face of the earth. Remember, at the height of its glory, Angkor Thom must have been prouder than Augustus' Rome ... more alive with swaggering splendor than Hannibal's Carthage ... gay and rich as the Golden Chersonese of fable!"
Ramey nodded.
"Sounds whacky," he agreed. "Any more theories?"
"One even more implausible. That a plague destroyed the entire population of Angkor."