hen Young whispered, "We're solid now; come on!" Whereupon I
quickly ended my imaginative discourse upon demoniac donkeys, and with
no appearance of haste we walked away.

"It was just as easy as rollin' off a log," Young said, jubilantly.
"There was a big gold peg stickin' there all ready t' slide into a slot,
so's t' hold th' gratin' down, an' all I had t' do was t' slide it. I
guess, with a plug like that holdin' that gratin' fast, they'll need
jacks t' open it. Th' only other way t' start it 'll be rammin' it with
a bit o' timber; but bustin' it in that way 'll take a lot o' time, an'
half an hour's plenty for all we've got t' do. If you're straight in
thinkin' nobody knows about that slidin' door we're solid."

I felt very sure in my own mind that I was right in believing that only
the Priest Captain had known of this secret opening; for, after him, the
most likely person to have knowledge of it was the keeper of the
archives, and that he was altogether ignorant of it I was well assured.
Therefore I most cheerfully helped Young, so far as my unskilful hands
could be useful, in the work of restoring the gold plates to the places
whence the lightning had wrenched them loose; and when this work was
done, so cleverly did Young manage it, there was no possibility of
distinguishing the door from any other portion of the wall; nor was
there then a sign of any sort remaining to show that by the passage of a
thunder-bolt the idol had been destroyed.

As we were finishing this piece of work we heard the soldiers at the
grating calling to the Priest Captain--at first in low tones, and then
more loudly; and then we heard them give a yell together, which
convinced us that they had tried to raise the grating and had found that
it was fastened down.

The ten minutes that followed was the most exciting time that I ever
passed through. Notwithstanding the secure fashion in which the grating
was fastened, we could not but dread that those outside had knowledge of
some means whereby it could be loosened; and in any event there was no
doubt but that they could force a way in upon us by beating it down.
Therefore we knew that there was no safety for us until we were fairly
out of the oratory, and had closed behind us the sliding door--and with
such difficult material to deal with as Rayburn, who still lay in a
heavy stupor, and Pablo, whom sorrow had wellnigh crazed, we found it
hard to make such haste as the sharp exigency of our s