“A skull. A human skull!” he breathed.
One instant of horror, then he knew where they were, or at least thought he knew. They had found the final resting place of a race that had vanished from the earth.
A moment’s poking about in the dust convinced him that this was true. Human bones mingled with gold and silver ornaments, pots of bronze, strings of jade beads, and who knows what other priceless treasures from the past, formed a setting for a bit of drama at once shocking and intriguing.
Scarcely knowing what he was about, like some child in Fairyland, he began gathering up handfuls of the most attractive trinkets and thrusting them into the deep pockets of his knickers.
It was while he was engaged in this strange occupation that he felt the same curious sensation that had come to Pant.
“It—why, it’s like—” His heart raced wildly. “It’s as if the world had tipped a little!”
Instantly he heard the loud chatter of the giant’s teeth. In the midst of the chatter he caught the sound of an attempted chant, the Carib chant which they, in their darkness of mind, believe will drive away evil spirits.
The boy gathered no other trinkets. A moment passed, another and another. Every tick of his wrist watch sounded out in the dead silence of the place like the tolling of a funeral bell.
Then, of a sudden, pandemonium broke loose. The earth rocked. Huge stalactites came crashing down, to roll about the floor like barrels on the deck of a tossing ship. A grinning skull rolled at his feet. With his head in a whirl, Kirk knew not whether to stand or to flee.
“The earth god of the Mayas!” a terrible voice sounded in his ear. It was the Carib’s voice. The next moment a powerful arm encircled him and he was whirled through the dark.