Presently the party turned the angle of the cliff and came upon a placid little mountain lake which lay glistening under the moonlight.
“Now, where’s your ruined temple?” asked Carl.
“At the southern end of the lake,” was the reply.
“I see it!” cried Jimmie. “There’s a great white stone that might have formed part of a tower at one time, and below it is an opening which looks like an entrance to the New York subway with the lights turned off.”
The old temple at the head of the lake had frequently been visited by scientists and many descriptions of it had been written. It stood boldly out on a headland which extended into the clear waters, and had evidently at one time been surrounded by gardens.
“I don’t see anything very mysterious about that!” Carl remarked. “It looks to me as if contractors had torn down a cheap old building in order to erect a skyscraper on the site, and then been pulled off the job.”
“Wait until you get to it!” warned Jimmie.
“I’m listening right now for the low, soft music!” laughed Carl.
“Does any one live there?” asked Jimmie in a moment.
“As the place is thought by the natives to be haunted,” Sam answered, “the probability is that no one has set foot inside the place since the naturalist and myself explored its ruined corridors several weeks ago.”
The boys passed farther on toward the temple, and at last paused on the north side of a little arm of the lake which would necessitate a wide detour to the right.
From the spot where they stood, the walls of the temple glittered as if at sometime in the distant past they had been ornamented with designs in silver and gold. The soft wind of the valley sighed through the openings mournfully, and it required no vigorous exercise of the imagination to turn the sounds into man-made music.
The boys looked at each other significantly.
“Come on, Jimmie,” Carl shouted. “Let’s go and get a front seat. The concert is just about to begin!”
While the three stood viewing the scene, one which never passed from their memory, a tall, stately figure passed out of the entrance to the old temple and moved with dignified leisure toward the margin of the lake.
“The names of the characters appear on the program in the order of their entrance!” suggested Jimmie.