ruelty since the world began. Down in the valley below we had seen
gleaming beneath the calm surface of the lake the bones of the thousands
who had perished when this diabolical work was completed, and the waters
bounded forth, shining and sparkling in the sunlight, on their mission
of death. And whoever let them loose must have stood just where we now
were standing; and at sight of what came of their long labor there must
have been such joy as no hell could adequately punish in their black
hearts.

Our bodies shuddered as we turned and left the scene of this tremendous
tragedy; that was the more appalling to us because of the profound
mystery in which was buried everything related to it save the fact that
it had been.

For a long distance our way went onward beside the bare, deep valley
that had been the basin of the lake, and so the thought of the horror
which had been wrought so devilishly with its innocent waters lingered
gloomily in our minds. Involuntarily we associated the unknown people of
a long past time who had perpetrated this hideous wholesale murder with
the people for whom we now were searching, and an uncertain dread filled
our souls as to what might be our own fate should we end by finding what
we sought. From the tender mercies of a race in which stealthy craft and
cold, malignant cruelty evidently were such conspicuous characteristics,
little was to be expected. Therefore, it was in a sombre mood, and with
but little talk among us, that we went forward upon our way.

The path that we followed showed the same care in the making of it that
we had found in the path leading down from the canon into the valley
where the drowned city was. Throughout the length of it, by carrying it
skilfully along the windings of the mountain-sides, an equable, easy
grade was maintained; where it led across open spaces the loose stones
had been cleared away and stood heaped along each side of it; where it
skirted precipices the solid rock had been cut out in order to give a
wider and a surer foothold; and here and there in its course crevices
which traversed it were bridged with great slabs of stone. Rayburn was
lost in admiration of the engineering skill that was shown in its
construction, and declared that a very little extra work put on it would
fit it for the laying of a line of rails.

The valley on our right, in which the lake had been, narrowed as we
advanced; and as the path that we followed had a steadily rising