“That is certainly a great point,” replied Frank. “Yonder I can see some hieroglyphics on a stone. Is it possible to read them?”
“I am not familiar enough with Aztec cryptography,” said Wade. “I shall not attempt it.”
Before the large idol was a broad and richly carved altar. Below it was a pit for the reception of the blood of the victims.
The two explorers gazed upon this gruesome object with a thrill.
“Many a poor wretch has gone to his doom on that stony surface,” declared Frank. “What barbarity!”
“True,” agreed Wade; “the ancient ideas of sacrifice were something simply savage.”
No small object of any kind of metal could be found. Every vestige of any material but stone had been absorbed by time and the water.
So Wade could find no other specimen to take with him but a small idol, which he placed in his pocket.
“I shall keep this for a talisman,” he declared. “Perhaps it will bring me good luck!”
“I believe I will do the same,” said Frank; “so here goes.”
He also took one of the idols. Then they left the temple.
Once out upon the street again they began to look for another object of interest.
Passing through a sort of peristyle they came out into a large court, in the center of which was a large basin. Here no doubt a fountain had once played.
This court had no doubt once been the scene of magnificence. There was every indication of it.
Statues of the nude adorned its circle. These were hardly to be compared with Grecian sculpture, but they represented a very good knowledge of the art.
Instinctively both men pictured the place as it might once have been.
Flowering trees and shrubs, noble palms and trailing vines had once made the spot beautiful.
The sunlight had once glinted in upon these alabaster walls, with their setting of beautiful green. It had given light to a gay assemblage of dark-skinned people, and fell upon the state throne of the king.
For this stood at one end of the court just as it must have stood in those old days. It was a great chair of carven stone, with a canopy over it, or at least the frame where the canopy had once been.
But nothing was left of all this magnificence but the bare walls. These alone were imperishable.
Only their marble sides and columns remained. All else was dust.