"Very likely," said his father. "I don't doubt that for an instant, Jack, but I'll come all the same." They lighted a couple of fresh torches and went quickly down the steps and across the room below. They found the tiger cubs, drawn by the scent of blood, playing with the new kill, trying to fix their baby fangs into it, and leaping to and fro like a couple of kittens. "Clear off," said Jack, thrusting one of them aside with his foot, "we want this." The buck was only a young one, not more than forty or fifty pounds' weight, and Jack swung it up from the ground by its horns. As he drew it away from them, both cubs gave a loud cry of complaint. Their cry was answered upon the instant by a frightful roar, and turning their heads, the two men saw a long, low, huge form gliding in at the opening with lightning speed. CHAPTER XXXIX. THE SECRET CHAMBER. "Shout, shout!" cried Mr. Haydon, and the two yelled at the top of their voices and waved their torches as they ran for the steps. But neither the noise nor the fire saved them. They owed their safety to the cubs. These ran at once to their mother, and the fierce creature stayed a moment to lick and fondle them and assure herself of their safety. Jack and his father used the respite to full advantage. They tore up the steps and hurled themselves into the room above. Mr. Haydon and the woman pushed the broken door into place before the opening and held it, fearing a rush from the great savage beast But the tigress made no charge. They heard her prowling about the foot of the steps below, and growling horribly, but she made no attempt to pursue them farther, and presently her fierce notes of anger died away. "She has gone back to the cubs," said Mr. Haydon with a deep breath of relief. "That was a close shave, Jack. If she'd come straight at us instead of staying beside them for an instant, it would have been all up with us." "We could have had a chop at her with a _dah_," said Jack. Mr. Haydon shook his head grimly. "Not good enough to tackle a charging tigress," he said. "Might as well chop at a hurricane." "Well," said Jack, "a miss is as good as a mile; and anyhow, we've landed the buck." Jack had hung on to their quarry like grim death, and the buck now lay on the floor at their feet. But before they satisfied their hunger, they looked carefully around the place in which they found themselves. Like the vault below, the room was large and low, and it was lighted by a number of small apertures on two sides. They approached these little holes, and found that none was of greater size than to admit of a fist being thrust through them. Mr. Haydon looked carefully at them. "These holes," said he, "are hidden among the ornaments and carving of the exterior. The room below is in the base of the pagoda. This room is built in the second of the three terraces known as Pichayas. Above us the pagoda is solid right away to the vane."