even their officers would care to
move about here, if we can but make a few noises they do not
understand.

"Well, for the present we have done our work here; and you had best
go off with the Burman to buy food, to serve in case of a siege.
You had better go to some of the cultivators' houses, near the edge
of the wood, for rice and fruit. If you can get the food there, you
will be able to make two or three journeys a day, instead of one.

"But, before we start back, we will climb round to the top of the
hill, and see what has happened to shut up the staircase."

It took them a quarter of an hour's climbing, through the forest
and undergrowth, before they reached the upper edge of the rock
wall in which the chambers had been excavated. It had evidently, in
the first place, been a natural cliff for, when on the ledge,
Stanley had noticed that while below that point the rock was as
smooth as a built wall, above it was rough, and evidently untouched
by the hand of man. Following the edge of the cliff, until standing
as nearly as they could guess above the entrance to the steps, they
walked back among the trees. At a distance of some thirty yards,
they came upon a ruin. It was built of massive stones, like those
which strewed the ground where the temple had stood. A great tree
rose on one side, and it was evident that its growth had, in the
first place, overthrown the wall at this point. Climbers and shrubs
had thrust their roots in between the blocks that had been but
slightly moved, by the growth of the tree; and had, in time, forced
them asunder; and so, gradually, the whole building had collapsed.

"This tree must be a very old one," Stanley said, looking up at it,
"for it is evident that this wall was thrown down a great many
years ago."

"Very old, master. It is one of our hardest woods, and such trees
live, they say, five or six hundred years. There are some which are
known to be even older than that."

"Well, it is clear that the staircase came up here; but we have no
means of knowing how far the point we reached is below this. I
should say that the stones we saw are the remains of the pavement
and roof, for you see these great blocks that formed the walls
don't go as far as the middle, where there is a great depression.
Still, of course, the steps may have come up on one side or the
other, and not just in the middle of this little temple--for, no
doubt, it was a temple.

"Now, you see, the reason for the