"Naturally, Mouhot was greatly excited. The records of mankind did not even hint at there ever having been such a civilization in this part of the world. He asked his native guides whence came these structures, who built them? "Their answer was--the Gods!" Ramey Winters nodded, fascinated. "I can understand that. Whatever men conceived and fashioned this edifice _were_ of godlike stature. Before the world went crazy, I studied a smattering of architecture. Enough to realize the tremendous effort expended here--" "Ah, but you haven't begun to see the wonders! Look at the walls and ceilings of this room, my boy." * * * * * "I been looking at them," spoke up Barrett. "Darned things is simply lousy.--'scuse me, Miss Sheila!--I mean the walls and ceilings is covered from top to bottom with carving and stuff. Pictures and wiggly scrolls and everything. What was this? Part of the art gallery?" Dr. Aiken smiled distantly. "Yes, Red. A very, very small portion of the hugest art gallery ever known. Because every square inch of wall in both Angkor Thom and Angkor Vat is covered with similar stone sculpturing! There are murals two hundred ... three hundred ... feet long emblazoned with the images of thousands of warriors in battle! A statue of a _naga_, or seven-headed serpent, more than one hundred feet long. Figures of gods and men, of evil demons, of creature unlike anything known to Man. About the grounds are single stones a hundred feet high, hand-carven to represent gods whose names we do not know." Ramey frowned. "Now, wait a minute, Doctor. That's impossible, you know! I mean, a hundred feet high--" "I quite agree with you, Ramey. Such sculpturing is impossible to present-day civilization. My colleague, Alfred Maynard, once wrote: 'To transport these monoliths and erect the colossi, strength was wielded that our machinery does not supply.' A true statement of the case. The nearest quarries of the stone of which Angkor was built are twenty miles away! Modern engineering could no more duplicate the feat of building this structure than it could match the Pyramid of Cheops! "Yet even if this gigantic task of transportation of materials could be accomplished--what craftsmen today could match the stone-engraving of these walls? The ancient workmen used no cement. With what incredible tools they pierced this stone into delicate images, we cannot guess. The pillars are as painstakingly filigreed as if wrought by a goldsmith. In a chamber I shall show you--a subterranean niche discovered by Lake, here--is something even more remarkable. A cabinet of _metal_, inscribed with hieroglyphs eroded just enough to be indecipherable!" Lake answered Ramey's questioning glance with a nod.