It was as though an immense trout had
leaped and split the surface. This was repeated several times,
and was followed by a rhythmic sound like the regular splash of
many oars. Then silence.
I peered intently forth from my corner in the recess, but could
see nothing, and finally gave it up.
As the minutes passed by my discomfort increased and stiffness
began to take my joints. I realized the necessity of motion, but
lacked the will, and sat in a sort of dumb, miserable apathy.
This, I should say, for an hour; then I saw something that roused
me.
I had before noticed that on the side of the cavern almost
directly opposite me, under the flaming urns, there was a ledge
some ten or twelve feet broad and easily a hundred in length. It
met the surface of the lake at an easy, gradual slope. In the
rear, exactly between the two urns, could be seen the dark mouth
of a passage, evidently leading directly away from the cavern.
Out of this passage there suddenly appeared the forms of two
Incas. In the hand of each was what appeared to be a long
spear--I had evidently been mistaken in my presumption of their
ignorance of weapons.
They walked to one end of the long ledge and dragged out into the
light an object with a flat surface some six feet square.
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