efforts on the other side, and then, under the strain of their united
exertions, the stone began to move slowly from its place. Little by
little they raised it, putting all the strength they possessed into the
operation, until, at last, with one great effort they hurled it
backwards, and it fell with a crash upon the pavement behind them,
revealing a dark, narrow hole, the bottom of which it was impossible
to see.

[Illustration: "A DARK, NARROW HOLE, THE BOTTOM OF WHICH IT WAS
IMPOSSIBLE TO SEE."]

"Now then, Gideon, my worthy friend, what have you got to say about the
business?" asked Kitwater, as he wiped the perspiration from his brow.
"You pretended to doubt my story. Was there anything in the old
Frenchman's yarn after all. Were we wasting our time upon a fool's
errand when we set off to explore Sengkor-Wat?"

Hayle looked at him somewhat sheepishly.

"No? no," he said, "I am willing to admit that so far you have won the
trick. Let me down easily if you can. I can neither pass nor follow
suite. I am right out of my reckoning. Now what do you propose to do?"

"Get one of those torches we brought with us, and find out what there is
in that hole," Kitwater answered.

They waited while the latter went back to the camp, and when he
reappeared, and had lighted the torch, they prepared to follow him down
the steps into the mysterious depths below. The former, they soon
discovered, were as solidly built as the rest of the palace, and were