ght or ten feet along the ledge.

"Come on, Chebron; there is plenty of room for both of us," he said,
looking backward. Chebron at once joined him.

"Where can we be?" Amuba asked. "There is the sky overhead. We are
twenty feet from the top of the wall, and where this ledge ends, just
before it gets to the sides of this stone, it seems to go straight
down."

Chebron looked round him.

"This must be the head of one of the statues," he said after a pause.
"What a curious place! I wonder what it can have been made for. See,
there is a hole here!"

Just in front of them was an opening of some six inches in diameter in
the stone.

Amuba pushed his hand down.

"It seems to go a long way down," he said; "but it is narrowing," and
removing his arm he looked down the hole.

"There is an opening at the other end," he said; "a small narrow slit.
It must have been made to enable any one standing here to see down,
though I don't think they could see much through so small a hole. I
should think, Chebron, if this is really the top of the head of one of
the great figures, that slit must be where his lips are. Don't you
think so?"

Chebron agreed that it was probable.

"In that case," Amuba went on, "I should say that this hole must be
made to allow the priests to give answers through the mouth of the
image to supplications made to it. I have heard that the images
sometimes gave answers to the worshipers. Perhaps this is the secret
of it."

Chebron was silent. The idea was a painful one to him; for if this
were so, it was evident that trickery was practiced.

"I think we had better go," he said at last. "We have done wrong in
coming up here."

"Let me peep over the side first," Amuba said. "It seems to me that I
can hear voices below."

But the projection of the head prevented his seeing anything beyond.
Returning he put his foot in the hole and raised himself sufficiently
to get on the top of the stone, which was here so much flattened that
there was no risk of falling off. Leaning forward he looked over the
edge. As Amuba had guessed would be the case, he found himself on the
head of the principal idol in the temple. Gathered round the altar at
its foot were seven or eight men, all of whom he knew by the whiteness
of their garment to be priests. Listening intently he could
distinctly hear their words. After waiting a minute he crawled back.

"Come up here, Chebron; there is something important going on."

Chebr