Nothing more was said, and the prisoners trudged along in silence in the midst of the throng that enveloped them. No attempt was made to offer them any violence, but somehow the very apathy of the crowd appeared more ominous than if they had resorted to active resentment. As Jack thought to himself: “It looks as if they had our fate all cut and dried.”
As if in answer to his unspoken thought were the next words of Captain Sprowl:
“Whatever is going to happen to us, these fellows know before it comes off. But we’ve got to put the best face we can on the matter and show them that Americans ain’t going to be scared out of their seven senses by a bunch of image worshippers.”
Insensibly the doughty little captain threw out his chest and glared about him at the capering Indians that surrounded them.
“I wish I had my hands free; I’d spoil some of your ugly mugs for you,” he grunted.
Suddenly the throng broke into a measured chant. It rose and swelled with hideous lack of harmony to the white men’s ears. But nevertheless the chorused burden of the thing was unpleasantly suggestive. The prisoners found themselves actually glad when they reached the central stone house and were escorted inside by the two red-robed priests and six of the feather-ornamented natives.
Once inside the place, the great doors by which they had entered were closed on the mob outside, shutting off their depressing chant. They noticed that the doors were formed of a sort of white stone of immense thickness but beautifully carved, although what the carvings represented they could not make out. They were hurried along too fast for that.
It was evident, however, that the stone structure was, in part at any rate, a royal residence. Within the stone doors was a circular chamber capped with a dome of really beautiful proportions, considering the fact that the Indians must be ignorant of even the fundamental principles of architecture or geometrical design. In fact, they learned afterward that the stone palace was of extremely ancient origin, the work of some forgotten and highly civilized race, possibly allied to the intellectual Aztecs. Chekla’s tribe had simply found the place there and built up a village around it.
The domed central chamber was furnished with mats and hung with skins and spears, and the walls were ornamented with crude carvings. It was without windows, being lighted by means of openings in the stones set in regular rotation around the base of the dome. At each side, however, was a low doorway, hung with curtains of some sort of plaited grass. Through one of these they were escorted and found themselves in a passage, at the other end of which was another door.
They passed through this and entered a rock-walled chamber absolutely bare of any sort of furniture or fittings. It had a damp, musty sort of odor attaching to it and this, together with the fact that the passage had inclined downward rather steeply, led them to believe that they must be underground.