I groaned again.  Holman’s airy manner of discussing our predicament annoyed me.  I hated the Professor for making the remarks about sacrificial stones when he drew comparisons between the table and Aztec altars, because I now thought that the very fear planted within my brain would carry a thought suggestion to the three devils who had us prisoners.  Under ordinary circumstances I am not deficient in physical courage, but our position in front of the strange monument on the Isle of Tears left me with the valour of a jack-rabbit.  The terror generated by the surroundings bit into my system like an acid.

“What I’m wondering at,” continued Holman, “is about that guy that we saw on the top of the place.  How he got away was a mystery.”

“It was,” I replied.  I didn’t feel disposed to trust myself to make a longer comment at that moment.

“Well, they’re going to start operations,” said the youngster.  “We’re going to the top, Verslun.”

It was plain that we were.  Two of the natives had shinned up one of the pillars by means of small notches in one corner, and now the other cut the bands that tied us together, promptly attached Holman’s feet to the rope his comrades lowered, and signalled that all was ready by clapping his hands.  The youngster was quickly jerked upward, and in a few minutes I was beside him on the moss-grown sloping surface of the immense stone.

The three dancers were evidently impressed with the importance of the work they had in hand.  Their movements on the stone became more dignified and solemn.  They moved around us in a manner that would have provoked laughter at any other time, and we watched eagerly for developments.

With much care they placed us side by side on the upper part of the stone, but Holman’s feet were turned to my head, and as we were placed crosswise upon the inclined surface, my body was a few inches lower than his.  That we were to be sacrificed appeared to be a certainty at that moment, but the method by which we were to be sent into eternity puzzled us.  Not one of the three had a weapon.  The surface of the stone was as bare as it was upon the night that we had investigated it, and we began to think that death by starvation and thirst would probably be our fate.

But thoughts of such an ending were soon put aside.  Two of the savages slipped from the stone while the other dropped upon his stomach and hid his face.  That something was going to happen we felt certain, but we could not discover the slightest clue that would guide our puzzled wits to a solution.  We expected death, but we could not guess in what manner the job was to be performed.

“Looks as if something is coming, Verslun,” cried Holman.  “I was a fool to miss him, old man, but I guess—­oh, Gee!”