der."

Zircon shoved the blade down into the hole and pushed. "There must be a
special key of some kind," he said finally. "That is, if the slot has
anything to do with the door. I suggest we continue the search until
we're satisfied that this is the only possibility."

Rick nodded, disappointed. He turned back to the statue and took a step
forward into space!

A wild yell burst from him as he felt himself falling, then Scotty had
him by the jacket and was hauling him back. Rick collapsed on the stone
floor, his heart pounding The others shot their flashlights into the
place where he had stepped.

A section of the floor had swung upward, right at the base of the
statue. It yawned open, and from its lip a flight of steps led downward.

"It worked," Chahda said. "But was so silent we never hear it!"

Scotty gripped his rifle and snapped off the safety catch, then holding
the weapon in one hand like a pistol, he took his flashlight in the
other hand and started down. Zircon was right behind him.

Rick got to his feet and felt for the dark-light camera. It hadn't been
jarred because his body had cushioned it. But he wanted to be sure the
strap was still secure on his shoulder. Satisfied that all was well, he
started down the steps after Zircon. He didn't fancy going into the
underground part of the cave, but there was no choice. This was what
they had come for.

There were ten broad stone steps carved from the rock. Rick shot his
light around and saw that a heavy beam ran from the underside of the
trap door down to the bottom of the stairs where it ended in a stone
block. It was a counterbalance, the weight of the stone evidently just
enough heavier than the door so that moving the latch would let it swing
open. The latch itself was a piece of metal, probably bronze, that slid
in a channel carved in the underside of the door. Rick guessed that the
sideways pressure of the blade in the slot had let the door open rather
than the downward shove Zircon had given. A cord of leather ran from the
latch back along the corridor so that anyone entering the rock tunnel
could tug on it and open the door without climbing the stairs.

Rick joined Zircon and Scotty at the bottom of the steps. Chahda was
right behind him. The stairs ended in a long, low passage, just high and
wide enough for a man to pass. It was perhaps fifty feet long, and it
ended in blackness that indicated a bigger passage, or another cave,
beyond. Rick touc