te people."

Then, quite unattended, he guided them round the inner wall till they
came to a path of rock not more than a yard wide, beneath which was a
precipice fifty feet or so in depth that almost overhung the river. This
giddy path they followed for about twenty paces, to find that it ended
in a cleft in the wall so narrow that only one person could walk
through it at a time. That it must have been the approach to the second
stronghold was evident, however, since it was faced on either side with
dressed stones, and even the foundation granite had been worn by the
human feet which had passed here for ages upon ages. This path zigzagged
to and fro in the thickness of the wall till it brought them finally
within its circle, a broad belt of steeply-rising ground, covered like
that below with the tumbled ruins of buildings amidst which grew bush
and trees.

"Heaven send that the gold is not buried here," said Mr. Clifford,
surveying the scene; "for if it is, we shall never find it."

The Molimo seemed to guess the meaning of his words from his face, for
he answered:

"I think not here. The besiegers won this place and camped in it for
many weeks. I could show you were they built their fires and tried to
undermine the last wall within which the Portuguese sat about until
hunger killed them, for they could not eat their gold. Follow me again."

So on they went up the slope till they came to the base of the third
wall, and as before, passed round it, and reached a point above the
river. But now there was no passage, only some shallow and almost
precipitous steps cut from single stones leading from the foot of the
wall to its summit, more than thirty feet above.

"Really," said Benita, contemplating this perilous ascent with dismay,
"the ways of treasure seekers are hard. I don't think I can," while her
father also looked at them and shook his head.

"We must get a rope," said Meyer to the Molimo angrily. "How can we
climb that place without one, with such a gulf below?"

"I am old, but I climb it," said the aged man in mild surprise, since to
him, who had trodden it all his life, it seemed not difficult. "Still,"
he added, "I have a rope above which I use upon dark nights. I will
ascend and let it down."

Ascend he did accordingly; indeed, it was a wondrous sight to see his
withered legs scrambling from step to step as unconcernedly as though
he were going upstairs. No monkey could have been more agile, or more