Part 10 (2/2)
As I remained curious I made an opportunity to scra with me soood deal of soil either washed down fro froh in it nothing grew I directed the After a while to reat worked stone quite unlike that of the crater, indeed it seemed to me to be a marble
Further examination showed that this block was n of leaves and flowers In the disturbed soil also I picked up a life-sized marble hand of a woman exquisitely finished and apparently broken froreat Greek sculptors Moreover, on the third finger of this hand was a representation of a ring whereof, unfortunately, the bezel had been destroyed
I put the hand inon, I could not pursue the research and disinter the block When I wished to return the next day, I was informed politely by Marama that it would not be safe for ht to ry and bring disaster on o alone since no native would accoo So to ive up the idea
Chapter VIII Bastin Attempts the Martyr's Crown
That carved stone and the ination What did they mean? How could they have come to the botto and its ornahbourhood? The stone of which we had only uncovered a corner see to have been carried there frohed several tons Besides, shi+ps do not carry such things about the world, and none had visited this island during the last two centuries at any rate, or local tradition would have recorded so wonderful a fact Were there, then, once edifices covered with elegant carving standing on this place, and were they adorned with lovely statues that would not have disgraced the best period of Greek art? The thing was incredible except on the supposition that these were relics of an utterly lost civilisation
Bickley was as much puzzled as myself All he could say was that the world was infinitely old and ht have happened in it whereof we had no record Even Bastin was excited for a little while, but as his iination was represented by zero, all he could say was:
”I suppose someone left them there, and anyhow it doesn't s towards the ancient and mysterious, could not be put off in this fashi+on I remembered that unapproachable mountain in thewhich looked like ruins as seen frolasses At any rate this was a point, that II slipped away and walked to the edge of the lake, a distance of five or sixarrived there I perceived that the cone-shaped mountain in the centre, which was about a ht, quite three hundred feet high indeed, and with a very large circumference Further, its sides evidently once had been terraced, and it was on one of these broad terraces, half-way up and facing towards the rising sun, that the ruin-like relasses Undoubtedly it was a cyclopean ruin built of great blocks of coloured stone which seemed to have been shattered by earthquake or explosion There were the pillars of a ateway and the remains of walls
I treet to the place and see for myself? I observed that from the flat bush-clad land at the foot of the mountain, ran out what seee table-topped rock between two and three hundred feet across But even this was too far to reach by swiators in that lake I walked up and down its borders, till presently I came to a path which led into a patch of so this path I discovered a boat-house thatched over with palood canoes with their paddles, floating and tied to the stumps of trees by fibre ropes Instantly I ate Just as I was about to step into one of the canoes the light was cut off Looking up I saw that ain the door-place of the boat-house in order to enter, and paused guiltily
”Friend-froiven tohere?”
”I am about to take a row on the lake, Chief,” I answered carelessly
”Indeed, Friend Have we then treated you so badly that you are tired of life?”
”What do you ht, Friend, and I will explain to you”
I hesitated till I saw Mara the heavy wooden spear he carried and remembered that I was unarmed Then I carily ere clear of the patch of cotton palm
”I er journey than you thought Have patience now and listen toand followed, suspecting your purpose Yes, I followed alone, saying nothing to the priests of Oro who fortunately were aatching the Bellower for their own reasons I saw you searching out the secrets of thethat are ss that are far off come near, and I followed you to the canoes”
”All that is plain enough, Marama But why?”
”Have I not told you, Friend-from-the-Sea, that yonder hill which is called Orofena, whence this island takes its name, is sacred?”
”You said so, but what of it?”
”This: to set foot thereon is to die and, I suppose, great as you are, you, too, can die like others At least, although I love you, had you not come away from that canoe I was about to discover whether this is so”
”Then for what are the canoes used?” I asked with irritation