The voices seemed quite close now—it could be but a matter of seconds before we should be confronted by their owners. My muscles seemed to tense for the anticipated encounter and unconsciously I pressed heavily upon the loosened setting—whereat a portion of the figure’s back gave noiselessly inward revealing to us the dimly lighted interior of the statue. We needed no further invitation; simultaneously we stepped across the threshold and in almost the same movement I turned and closed the panel gently behind us. I think that there was absolutely no sound connected with the entire transaction; and following it we remained in utter silence, motionless—scarce breathing. Our eyes became quickly accustomed to the dim interior which we discovered was lighted through numerous small orifices in the shell of the statue, which was entirely hollow, and through these same orifices every outside sound came clearly to our ears. We had scarcely closed the opening when we heard the voices directly outside it and simultaneously there came a hammering on the door by which we had entered the apartment from the corridor. “Who seeks entrance to Xaxa’s Temple?” demanded one of the voices within the room. “’Tis I, dwar of the Jeddara’s Guard,” boomed a voice from without. “We are seeking two who came to assassinate Xaxa.” “Came they this way?” “Think you, priest, that I should be seeking them here had they not?” “How long since?” “Scarce twenty tals since,” replied the dwar. “Then they are not here,” the priest assured him, “for we have been here for a full zode[A] and no other has entered the temple during that time. Look quickly to Xaxa’s apartments above and to the roof and the hangars, for if you followed them up the spiral there is no other where they might flee.” ----- [A] A tal is about one second, and a zode approximately two and one-half hours, Earth time. ----- “Watch then the temple carefully until I return,” shouted the warrior and we heard him and his men moving on up the spiral. Now we heard the priests conversing as they moved slowly past the statue. “What could have caused the noise that first attracted our attention?” asked one. “Perhaps the fugitives tried the door,” suggested the other. “It must have been that, but they did not enter or we should have seen them when they emerged from behind the Great Tur, for we were facing him at the time, nor have once turned our eyes from this end of the temple.” “Then at least they are not within the temple.” “And where else they may be is no concern of ours.” “No, nor if they reached Xaxa’s apartment, if they did not pass through the temple.” “Perhaps they did reach it.” “And they were assassins!” “Worse things might befall Phundahl.” “Hush! the gods have ears.” “Of stone.” “But the ears of Xaxa are not of stone and they hear many things that are not intended for them.” “The old she-banth!” “She is Jeddara and High Priestess.”