nham. "It was a temple, and that was the altar."

"Wouldn't want a chimbley to a temple, would they, sir?"

"Chimney?" I said. "Where?"

"Yonder, sir. Goes back a bit, and then turns up. You can see the
light shining down."

"Yes," I said, as we stepped close up to the supposed altar; "that must
have been a chimney."

"That's right enough," said Denham sharply. "Burnt sacrifices, of
course. This place was covered in once, and that chimney was to carry
off the smoke. But there, let's get on. We're not finding water. Is
it dark through this doorway?"

Inspection proved that it was rather dark; but the absence of stones in
the roof enabled us to see our way without a match. At the end of ten
feet of narrow passage, whose floor was very much scored and broken up,
there was a square opening similar to that which we had passed before
entering the so-called temple.

"I shouldn't be surprised if that hole communicates with the first," I
said.

"Pretty well sure to," said Denham. "Here, sergeant, fetch one of those
square bits of stone that lay by the other."

Briggs stepped back, and returned with a curious-looking and roughly
squared piece of stone, handing it to Denham for throwing down; but as
he took it I checked him.

"Don't throw that," I said; "it has been chiselled out, and is curious.
It may show who the people were that did all this."

"Humph! Maybe," said Denham. "Take it back, Sergeant, and bring us
another."

Briggs went back and fetched another block.

"This here's the same, sir," he said, "and cut out deeper, as if to fit
on something."

"Yes, that's more perfect," I said. "Throw the first one down."

"Seems a pity," said Denham, looking first at one block and then the
other. "They are curious; why, they look as if some one had tried to
chisel out a hand-barrow on a flat piece of stone."

"Yes, sir," said Briggs gruffly, "or one o' them skates' eggs we used to
find on the seashore at home in Mount's Bay."

"Look here," I said, kicking at the flooring and loosening a shaley
piece of stone about as big as my hand; "I'll throw this down."

I pitched the piece into the darkness below, and we listened for it to
strike, but listened in vain for a few seconds, and then:

_Plosh_!

"Water!" I cried. "Why, we've found the well."

"Hurrah!" cried Denham; "well done us!" and he stepped back to where I
had kicked out the piece of broken stone, and was about to throw another
piece