“Has my son yet seen the home of the Virgins of the Sun?” continued Nohul Voh, “Has he seen the sacred well? Has he yet found the inner chamber wherein the sacred golden image of Kinich Ahau is worshipped by the Kinchi Haman and his priests? Yet, my lord, all these are within the temple. And--” Again I interrupted him. I leaped to my feet. Dolt, fool that I had been! I had wasted time wandering about the outer, the most unimportant portion of the temple’s passages and rooms. Why had Azcopil not reminded me of these other places? I started for the door, but the sorcerer checked me. “Wait!” he exclaimed. “To beat with bare hands upon stone walls will but bruise your hands,” he continued. “Does the jaguar try to outrun the deer? Does the wild hog try to push down the tree for the fruit he craves? “Very crafty is Kinchi Haman. Only he knows the secret of the moving stones that seal the doorway to the inner temple. For days, months, years you might search for it in vain, so cleverly is it hidden. But there is a way, a way known to Nohul Voh, and here, my son, is the key to that way.” From somewhere in his garments he produced a tube of bamboo with carved stoppers at the ends. Carefully removing one of these, he disclosed what appeared to be a stick of some reddish clay curiously mottled with yellowish flakes. Indeed, it resembled a stick of the ornamental red sealing wax filled with flakes of mica more than anything else. I reached out my hand to examine it, but Nohul Voh checked me in time. “Touch it not!” he warned me. “Within this case it can harm you not, but touch it and your flesh will be seared to the bone. But it is the magic that will reveal the secret door of the inner temple.” I was puzzled. What did he mean? How could this thing--whatever it was--that he handled so gingerly, reveal the hidden door? But the old sorcerer was explaining. “Together with the prince and your men, enter once more the temple. First measure the length and the breadth of the outer side, and then pace the width and length within. By this shall you know, my son, where is the wall that holds the secret door and, knowing this, unstop the end of this tube and hold it above the seams and marks upon the stone. Thus will it reveal to you where is the door and which the solid rock. Having found that which you seek, the rest is in your hands, O, Itzimin Chac. And now lose no more time, for the hours pass and never do they come again.” Handing me the alleged miraculous object, he rose to go. But as he neared the door, he turned back. “Preserve well that which I have given unto you,” he admonished me. “In time of need it may serve as well for a weapon as for finding the hidden doorway. And--mayhap, if you flee across the Bridge of Light with the rescued maiden, it may serve you well within that Cavern of the Bats.” * * * * *