close to take any chances."

I got upon my hands and knees and followed him along the narrow pathway.
Over a thousand obstructions we crawled like three rock snakes, till
finally the boy halted and turned toward me.

"See the streak of light through that split in the rock?" he whispered.
"Look in front of you! Well, they're inside."

The split in the rock to which Holman had pointed was a perpendicular
crevice about four feet in length, but possessing only a width of six
inches. It separated two rock masses that were fully eighteen inches
thick, and as we wriggled noiselessly toward it we saw that it gave us a
glimpse of the interior of a huge cavern, the part of which that was
just inside our point of observation being illuminated by a swinging
ship's lamp which hung by a rope that dropped from the vaulted dome.

The lamp swung directly in front of the crevice through which we peered
breathlessly, and for a few seconds it was the only object that was
visible. Gradually our eyes became accustomed to the light, and we found
that a pair of brown legs were moving slowly along the floor past our
spyhole. A body, gorgeously decorated in mats of green and crimson
parrot feathers, followed the legs, and then came a head that was hidden
behind a mask of sennet daubed thickly with coral lime and ochre till it
appeared a ghastly nightmare.

The horror moved upon its stomach, and, viewing it as we did through the
narrow cranny, it appeared as if the film of a biograph was being slowly
dragged before our eyes. Another pair of legs followed the masked head,
another body, and another mask that was even more fear-inspiring than