Ramey stared at him in astonishment. A little while ago Tomasaki had been limp with terror. Now he was offering to take a foolhardy risk on their behalf. It didn't make sense. The little man had undergone a complete change of heart or-- Suddenly Ramey thought he understood. For his keen gaze detected jittering nerves in the native's hopeful offer. The rising intonation of Sheng-ti supplied the missing clue. "_Aiee!_ Doom!" the shaven _bonze_ was crying. "Woe to all men when the chamber of change be violated; when the gods of the past shall walk!" Lake, too, understood, and stopped the little man as he edged toward the doorway. "No, come back here, Tomasaki! It's too risky. They might see you." He grinned at his friends. "I don't know how the rest of you feel, but me, I'd rather have an empty belly than a full carcass." Red Barrett had been staring in awed wonderment at the mysterious metal cube ever since Ramey had tapped it. Red was a great guy, but he was not the world's fastest thinker. Now comprehension seemed to dawn on him with an almost audible sound of gears meshing. He said to Ramey, "Hey, Ramey! That thing's _hollow_!" Dr. Aiken said, "Yes, Barrett, we know that. But so far we have been unable to find any way to open it." Red started to scratch his brick pate automatically, winced as his hand touched bandages. "You know what? I bet I know what that thing is. I seen a picture once, back in the States. Bela Lugosi in _The Wife of the Werewolf_. He was one of them whacky scientists--'scuse me, Doc--and he had a cabinet something like this. Only it really wasn't no cabinet at all. It was a secret entrance to an underground tunnel. "I betcha that's what this is, too. A passageway which goes down under the moat, maybe, and out beyond the temple. Them old priests used to be keen on things like that. Course they didn't mess around with keys or nothing. They had trick doors you had to work out on like an osteopath. Like you'd punch on this little knob here, and maybe wriggle this hunk of carving--_Holy cow!_ Lookit, Ramey!" He leaped back, startled. Nor was he the only one whose jaw dropped in sudden wonder. Call it coincidence, call it Fate, call it an incredible permutation of chance--but while explaining, Red's fingers had fumbled upon the combination required to unlock the gate of this ancient mystery. With a groan of protest, one outer face of the strange cube was swinging open! CHAPTER VI Across Time Red Barrett was the first to break the silence that blanketed the little group. "See, Ramey?" he cried. "Look at that! What did I tell you! Now, I bet there's steps in that thing. A trapdoor or something." But womanlike, it was Sheila Aiken who, obeying the Pandora impulse, stepped forward into the open cubicle. Darkness swallowed her like an engulfing maw. Dr. Aiken cried out in swift alarm, "Sheila! Be careful!"