Up from the centre of this crater-like hole rose a column of thin yellowish vapor, while from the unseen depths came that awful, roaring, demoniacal howl! I glanced up. I gaped--stared in wonder. Far above our heads--two hundred feet and more above where we stood, showed a square of blue sky half hidden by wavering, swaying lambent flames! Sudden knowledge, sudden understanding came to me. From the bowels of the earth beneath the temple this geyser of inflammable gas rose to the temple top, and, ignited by the sacred fires ceaselessly burning there, spread its flaming banners against the sky. If Nohul Voh was right, then the Bridge of Light now spanned the chasm. But of what use to me? Itza, my Itza was gone! By the irony of fate the way to escape had come when I could not use it. Filled with bitterness, torn with my heart-breaking misery, I half-consciously stepped forward and, leaning over, glanced into the pit. A horrified cry escaped from my lips. Below me, perhaps twenty feet from where I stood, a broad shelf encircled the shaft. And upon it, twisted, contorted, ghastly, were dozens of human skeletons and human bodies! And still farther down, belching, roaring, howling from a great arched opening in one side of the pit and disappearing in a similar opening on the other side, was a column of luminous liquid or vapor like the jet of water from a stupendous, titanic flame. Fascinated, I gazed. With dread of what I _might_ see, I peered at those grisly ghastly bodies, until convinced that all had been there for days--weeks. Then, and not till then did full comprehension come to me. _This_ was the Monster of Sacrifices! This shrieking, howling torrent of gas or vapor or whatever it was, was the _Thing_ I had pictured as some loathsome, horrible beast! Those mouldering bodies and whitening bones were the victims of sacrifices to the phenomenon! I laughed madly, hysterically as the tension on my nerves was released. To the prince, who feared I had gone mad, I explained. Incredulously he listened to my words and then, as he, too, understood, his maniacal laughter mingled with my own. * * * * *