“We need only stay there a minute or two,” Amuba urged. “There are so few about that we are not likely to be seen, for if we walk noiselessly none are likely to cast their eyes so far upward.” So saying Amuba led the way up the stairs, and Chebron somewhat reluctantly followed him. They felt their way as they went, and after mounting for a considerable distance found that the stairs ended in a narrow passage, at the end of which was an opening scarce three feet high and just wide enough for a man to pass through. This evidently opened into the outer air, as sufficient light passed through to enable them to see where they were standing. Amuba crept out through the opening at the end. Beyond was a ledge a foot wide; beyond that rose a dome some six feet high and eight or ten feet along the ledge. “Come on, Chebron; there is plenty of room for both of us,” he said, looking backward. Chebron at once joined him. “Where can we be?” Amuba asked. “There is the sky overhead. We are twenty feet from the top of the wall, and where this ledge ends, just before it gets to the sides of this stone, it seems to go straight down.” Chebron looked round him. “This must be the head of one of the statues,” he said after a pause. “What a curious place! I wonder what it can have been made for. See, there is a hole here!” Just in front of them was an opening of some six inches in diameter in the stone. Amuba pushed his hand down. “It seems to go a long way down,” he said; “but it is narrowing,” and removing his arm he looked down the hole. “There is an opening at the other end,” he said; “a small narrow slit. It must have been made to enable any one standing here to see down, though I don’t think they could see much through so small a hole. I should think, Chebron, if this is really the top of the head of one of the great figures, that slit must be where his lips are. Don’t you think so?” Chebron agreed that it was probable. “In that case,” Amuba went on, “I should say that this hole must be made to allow the priests to give answers through the mouth of the image to supplications made to it. I have heard that the images sometimes gave answers to the worshipers. Perhaps this is the secret of it.” Chebron was silent. The idea was a painful one to him; for if this were so, it was evident that trickery was practiced. “I think we had better go,” he said at last. “We have done wrong in coming up here.” “Let me peep over the side first,” Amuba said. “It seems to me that I can hear voices below.”