ron frame had jolted and grated, and there seemed no room for doubt that
the generous sage had been mangled into a shapeless mass. The thought was
horrible.

At last, however, we felt the air becoming fresher, and the strange
contraction in our breasts was gradually relieved as our pace became less
rapid, and distant lights showed before us. Then suddenly we emerged from
the curious shaft down which we had travelled to such enormous depth,
gliding slowly out into a place of immeasurable extent, where a most
extraordinary and amazing scene met our gaze.

Truly, poor Goliba had spoken the truth when he had promised that what we
should witness would astound us.

CHAPTER XXIII.

UNDER THE VAMPIRE'S WING.

WHEN our dazzled gaze grew accustomed to the garish blaze of lights we
found ourselves standing in an enormous cavern.

Around us were glowing fires and shining torches innumerable; the smoke
from them half choked us, while above there seemed an immensity of
darkness, for the roof of the natural chamber was so high that it could
not be discerned.

Upon one object, weird and horrible, our startled gaze became rivetted.
Straight before us, at some little distance, there rose a great black
rock to a height of, as far as I could judge, a thousand feet. Nearly
half way up was a great wide ledge or platform larger than any of the
market-places in the City in the Clouds, and upon this there had been
fashioned from the solid rock a colossal representation of the
vampire-bat, the device borne upon the banners of Mo. Its enormous wings,
each fully five hundred feet from the body to tip, outstretched on either
side and supported by gigantic pillars of rock carved to represent
various grotesque and hideous figures of men and animals, formed great
temples on either side of the body. The latter, however, attracted our
attention more than did the wonderful wings, for as we stood aghast and
amazed we discerned that the vast body of the colossus did not represent
that of a bat, but the gigantic jaws were those of a crocodile.

"Zomara!" gasped Omar. "See! It is the great god with the wings of a bat
and the tail of a lion!"

I looked and saw that far behind rose the tufted tail of the king of the
forest. From the two great eyes of the gigantic reptile shone dazzling
streams of white light, like the rays of a mariner's beacon, and
everywhere twinkling yellow lights were moving about the face of the
great rock, across the p