ago by
trickling waters before Avis Solis lost its clouds and rivers.

Here they found the last of the cairns, and the answer to their
construction. The water-maker which the expedition had left with
Malmsworth seventeen years ago rested upon this neat platform, and below
it a delicate basin, eighteen inches or so in depth, had been
constructed of stones and chinked with moss. Fit monument for the god,
machine.

It was filled with water, and quite obviously a bathtub.

* * * * *

Captain DeCastros sneered. This proved beyond doubt that Malmsworth was
mad, for in the old days he had been the very last to care about his
bath. In fact, DeCastros said, Malmsworth occasionally stank.

This was probably not true, but it seemed curious, nonetheless.

Captain DeCastros set to work kicking the tub to pieces. He kicked so
hard that one stone whistled past the head of Mr. Wordsley, who ducked
handily. Soon the basin lay in rubble, and the water-maker, its supports
collapsed, listed heavily to the right.

"He must be in the cave," Captain DeCastros said. He cupped his hands to
his mouth. "Come out, Malmsworth, we know you're in there!"

But there was no answer, and Malmsworth did not come out, so Captain
DeCastros, blizzer in hand, went in, with Mr. Wordsley following at a
cautious interval.

Presently they stood upon the edge of something black and yawning, but
there was still no sign of the exile, who seemed, like Elijah, to have
been called directly to his Maker without residue.

Beyond the gulf, however, Mr. Wordsley had glimpsed a ragged aperture
filled with the purest light. It seemed inconceivable to him--attracted
as he had always been by radiance--that this should be inaccessible.

Accordingly, he lay down upon his belly and stretched his hand as far
down as he could reach. His fingers brushed a level surface which
appeared to extend outwards for two or three feet. Gingerly he lowered
himself to this ledge and began to feel his way along the wall. Nor was
he greatly surprised (for hardly anything surprised Mr. Wordsley any
more) that it neatly circumnavigated the pit and deposited him safely
upon the other side, where he quickly groped toward the mouth of the
cavern and stood gazing out upon a scene that was breathtaking.

From this vantage the easily accessible slope led to the foot of the
plateau. Beyond lay the grandeur of Avis Solis.

Captain DeCastros was soon beside him.