Moon

, nor of what we found. Later-if I am allowed, I will lay all that before you. It is sufficie

w, and in her blood ran the beliefs and superstitions of the Northland-some of them so strangely akin to those of this far southern land; beliefs of spirits of mountain and forest and wate

hed at

. They would go back to their village in the morning; they would return after the third night, when the moon had begun to wane. They left us sundry charms for o

of the group. We marked down several spots for subsequent exploration, and on the morning of the third day set forth along the east

eady for our cots. It was only a little

Lean over with your ea

p from great distances, a faint chanting. It gathered strength, d

here,' I said. 'We're probably over som

ms, deep beneath us, another sound came. It drifted across the lagoon that lay between us and Nan-Tauach in lit

deck?" I asked. T

s I did so Stanton lifted his flap and walked out into the moonlig

e the bells of crystal on the sistrums of Isis at Dendarah Temple,' he added half-dreamily. We gazed intently at th

you see, Dave, it's some sort of a festival-rites of some kind that they hold

curious sense of relief, although I h

' suggested Stanto

of their religious ceremonies they'll probably never forgive us.

so,' agre

ling rose and fel

wonder what they make those sounds with. They frighten me half to death, and, at the s

h uncanny!' br

old Swede. She was the great Norse type-tall, deep-breasted, moulded on the old Viking li

stened. Suddenly she raised her arms and made a curious gesture to the moon. It was-an archaic-movement; she seemed to drag it from rem

m here-and quickly! Go while you may. It has called-' She pointed to the

goon came again the tinklings, now with a

e, none the worse, apparently. She had had bad dreams, she said. She could not remember what they were-except that they had warned her of danger

hat night on Nan-Tauach the silence was unb

ated would excite the scientific curiosity. We rejected immed

ometimes extraordinary effect upon the nervous system. We accepted this as the explanation of the reactions we had experienced, hearing the unfamiliar sounds. Thora's ner

decided that on the next departure of our labourers we would set forth immediately to Nan-Tauach. We would investigate during the day, and at evening m

o accompany them. Their importunities only made us more eager to see what it was that, we were now convinced, they wanted to co

the water-gate with its gigantic hewn prisms of basalt and landed beside a half-submerged pier. In front of us stretched a series of giant steps leading into a vast court strew

s literally three rectangles. The first rectangle is the sea-wall, built up of monoliths-hewn and squared, twenty feet wide at the top. To get to the gateway in the sea-wall you pass along the canal marked on the map between Na

is from thirty to forty feet high-originally it must have been much higher, but there has been subsidence in parts. The wall of the first enclosure is

eat central vault with which is associated the one name of living being that has come to us out of the mists of the past. The natives say it was the treasure-house of Chau-te-leur, a mighty king who reigned long 'before their fathers.' As Chan is the ancient Ponapean word b

the sun king is the moon r

rtyard; Edith and Thora were getting together our lunch. I came out of the vault o

one about fifteen feet high and ten wide. At first all I noticed was the exquisite nicety with which its edges joined the

in my arm tingled as though a shock of frozen electricity had passed through it. It was not cold as we know cold. It was

was developing hallucinations like Thora. Notice, by the wa

noted that these stones had been hollowed to follow the line of the grey stone's foot. There was a semicircular depression running from one side of the slab to the other. It was as though the grey rock stood in the centre of a shallow cup-revealing half, covering half. Somet

t swings around in that little cup. T

I replied. 'But how the

ose efforts I happened to look up-and cried out. A foot above and on each side of the corner of the

at I had in touching the slab below. I put my hand back. The impression came from a spot not more than an inch wide. I went carefully over the entire convexity, and six times more the chill ran through my arm. There were seven circles an inch wide in the curved place, each of

hat open it,' said

ou say tha

purely scientific part of me is fighting the purely human part of me. The scientific part is urging me to find some way to get

d again-sh

nd I thought that in his tone th

y as it is-unless we b

to me the same feeling that he had expressed. It was as though something passed out of the grey rock that struck my h

t to it. She cast herself upon its breast, hands and face pressed against it; we heard her scream as though her very soul were being drawn from her-and watched her fall a