To their surprise, once they had crossed the rocky ridge, they found themselves on a well-travelled trail. Here, however, the trees stood close together.
“Guess we should have taken this foot-trail from the start,” said Gale. “It’s shorter. If the Woman in Purple headed this way, as the colonel said, she must have taken this trail. Perhaps she’s waiting for us somewhere in the shadows.” She shuddered. Darkness still hung over the mountainside.
“Let her wait,” was Jan’s grim reply. “We’ll fix her plenty.”
The dawn that took Pete to battle with Isabelle’s red rose in his teeth found Gale and Jan trudging, weary and more than half asleep, over a trail that had hourly grown broader and hard-packed by the tread of many feet.
“We’re getting somewhere,” Jan paused for a moment to down her load. “But where? That’s the question.”
“Just one more temple and more trouble,” Gale sighed.
“Oh, you can’t be sure.” Jan was hopeful. “This is our third temple. Third time’s the charm.”
“Here’s hoping.” Gale once again took the trail.
A temple it was, and the most gorgeous one they had ever seen. Its towers appeared to rival the giants of the forest. It was surrounded by a high wall, and along the top of the wall tigers, dragons and all manner of strange beasts, all carved from hard wood and stone, appeared to race.
Strangest of all, seeming to stand guard beside the door in the wall, stood two huge monkeys or apes large as dogs. Their coats were marvelously beautiful.