was to secure a supply of food, of which we had only a
little originally laid up for our use in the chambers of the old temple,
tinned meats that we had brought from London and so forth, now nearly
all consumed. We remembered that Maqueda had told us of corn from
her estates which was stored annually in pits to provide against the
possibility of a siege of Mur, and asked her where it was.

She led us to a place where round stone covers with rings attached to
them were let into the floor of the cave, not unlike those which stop
the coal-shoots in a town pavement, only larger. With great difficulty
we prised one of these up; to me it did not seem to have been moved
since the ancient kings ruled in Mur and, after leaving it open for a
long while for the air within to purify, lowered Roderick by a rope we
had to report its contents. Next moment we heard him saying: "Want to
come up, please. This place is not pleasant."

We pulled him out and asked what he had found.

"Nothing good to eat," he answered, "only plenty of dead bones and one
rat that ran up my leg."

We tried the next two pits with the same result--they were full of human
bones. Then we cross-examined Maqueda, who, after reflection, informed
us that she now remembered that about five generations before a great
plague had fallen on Mur, which reduced its population by one-half. She
had heard, also, that those stricken with the plague were driven into
the underground city in order that they might not infect the others,
and supposed that the bones we saw were their remains. This information
caused us to close up those pits again in a great hurry, though really
it did not matter whether we caught the plague or no.

Still, as she was sure that corn was buried somewhere, we went to
another group of pits in a distant chamber, and opened the first one.
This time our search was rewarded, to the extent that we found at the
bottom of it some mouldering dust that years ago had been grain. The
other pits, two of which had been sealed up within three years as the
date upon the wax showed, were quite empty.

Then Maqueda understood what had happened.

"Surely the Abati are a people of rogues," she said. "See now, the
officers appointed to store away my corn which I gave them have stolen
it! Oh! may they live to lack bread even more bitterly than we do
to-day."

We went back to our sleeping-place in silence. Well might we be silent,
for of food we had only enough left