A short distance ahead we came to another passage, crossing at
right angles, broad and straight, and somehow familiar. As with
one impulse we took it, turning to the left, and then flattened
ourselves back against the wall as we saw a group of Incas
passing at its farther end, some two hundred yards away.
There we stood, motionless and scarcely breathing, while group
after group of the savages passed in the corridor ahead. Their
number swelled to a continuous stream, which in turn gradually
became thinner and thinner until only a few stragglers were seen
trotting behind. Finally they, too, ceased to appear; the
corridor was deserted.
We waited a while longer, then as no more appeared we started
forward and soon had reached the corridor down which they had
passed. We followed in the direction they had taken, turning to
the right.
We had no sooner turned than we saw that which caused us to
glance quickly at each other and hasten our step, while I
smothered the ejaculation that rose to my lips. The corridor in
which we now found ourselves stretched straight ahead for a
distance, then turned to one side; and the corner thus formed was
flooded with a brilliant blaze of light!
There was no longer any doubt of it: we were on our way to the
great cavern.
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