vacant space lay between the two, while on the apex of each stood buildings of sun-baked clay, resembling in form those below, yet much larger, and, because of their elevation, appearing spacious and imposing.  Above one were posed three rudely carven figures bearing a slight resemblance to giant eagles, their wings outspread as if for flight.  The other was surmounted by a hideous, grotesque figure, blackened as by fire, with distorted face daubed a glaring yellow, and long hair glittering from red pigment.  Here the grass curtain had been drawn aside, while before the entrance, their faces striped with disfiguring black lines, their dull vestments trailing to the ground and gaudily trimmed with fanciful trappings, their coarse hair so trained as to stand almost erect, were two aged men, who, with wild gesticulations, and solemn chanting, were apparently paying adoration to the setting sun, the last beams streaming over them through a rift in the western wall.

Directly past these priests we were driven like cattle, finding ourselves plunged into a vast square gloomy apartment, having an earthen floor, but utterly devoid of either furnishings or ornament.  There was another mat-draped opening at the farther side, and in the centre a huge log smouldered, resting upon what bore the appearance of a rudely chipped altar of rock.  About this were ranged numerous fancifully painted statues of wood, grotesque and hideous, while a third figure, attired as were the aged priests without, lay prone upon the earth moaning as if in agony.  The walls were hung thickly with undressed skins of wild animals, and at the back stood a slightly upraised platform of logs, cut in halves by a narrow passageway leading toward the second curtained door.  It was in the midst of this we halted, still under strict surveillance of our brutal guards.  These, however, permitted us to sink down exhausted on the hard floor.

CHAPTER XXII

PRISONERS IN THE TEMPLE

A fear of impending danger will not always prove sufficiently strong to prevent yielding to the demands of fatigue.  I realized the desperation of our position, feeling no doubt regarding our ultimate fate.  I read it plainly in our surroundings, as well as within those vengeful, scowling faces, yet so dulled was every physical sense from excessive weariness that I had passed through much already described like a man in a dream.  The brief repose of the previous night, broken by nervous, superstitious terrors, the anxious effort to escape from the haunted canyon, the hurried labor on our rude defences, the two fierce combats with the savages, my numerous wounds, none dangerous yet weakening me by loss of blood, together with the rapid marching and the difficult climb up the cliff, combined to exhaust my vitality so completely that, the moment we halted within the sacred precincts of this temple, I flung myself full length upon the floor.  I remember the sun had already disappeared behind the western heights.  I retain some slight memory of a tender hand resting softly on my forehead, of a familiar voice questioning me, yet if I made response, it must have been in the unconsciousness of sleep, as these faint remembrances were my last.