* * * * * [Illustration: Where the statue had stood was an opening in the floor, with steps leading downwards] * * * * * Shouting to the others to follow, I sprang down the steps. Close at my heels came the prince, but the men remained behind. They had reached the utter limit of their courage. To attempt to urge them, to command them to follow would, I knew, be useless; it would be merely a waste of time, and with no fear of results, contemptuous of the cowardly high-priest who kidnaped women and ran away at our approach, I hurried on. Fifty feet more and we came into a sudden blaze of light in the open air. On every side rose high, massive walls. Far above our heads rose the mighty temple with the swaying, gaseous flames at its summit. To right and left were low, rambling buildings with inward sloping walls and doorways. Beyond, and facing us, was a low mound before an image of the Sun God. I dashed towards the nearest doorway, that of the building to the left. The carved wooden door swung open, and from within came shrieks, screams, shrill cries. I halted in my tracks at the sight that greeted me. The place was filled with women! Half-naked, clad in single garments of white, they crowded back, wild-eyed, shrieking hysterically. Instantly I realized who they were, what they were doing here. They were Virgins of the Sun, girls doomed to sacrifice, to that awful symbolic wedding to Kinich Ahau; maidens, who before the dawning of another day, would be cast into the sacred well, if Kinchi Haman lived that long. A single rapid glance was enough to assure us he was not here. A single glance told me that my Itza was not among the terrified girls. Where was she? Where was the high priest? We shouted to the poor things, tried to calm them, to reassure them. But though they ceased their screams, they were still panic-stricken, panting, as wild-eyed and breathless as frightened deer. Had they seen Kinchi Haman? Had they seen Itza? There was no reply. They might have been deaf and dumb. But Azcopil’s quietly put questions met with better results. A tall, queenly girl recognized him. With an effort she controlled her voice. “She--Itza--she is there!” she gasped, pointing with trembling hand to the right. “Kinchi Haman--he--is there. He--he prepares the--the others; the first to be Kinich Ahau’s brides.”