He came thus it is true through a portion of the grounds
with which he was unfamiliar but he preferred this to the danger
of following the beaten track between the palace apartments and
those of the temple. Having a definite goal in mind and endowed as
he was with an almost miraculous sense of location he moved with
great assurance through the shadows of the temple yard.
Taking advantage of the denser shadows close to the walls and of
what shrubs and trees there were he came without mishap at last
to the ornate building concerning the purpose of which he had
asked Lu-don only to be put off with the assertion that it was
forgotten--nothing strange in itself but given possible importance
by the apparent hesitancy of the priest to discuss its use and the
impression the ape-man had gained at the time that Lu-don lied.
And now he stood at last alone before the structure which was three
stories in height and detached from all the other temple buildings.
It had a single barred entrance which was carved from the living
rock in representation of the head of a gryf, whose wide-open mouth
constituted the doorway. The head, hood, and front paws of the
creature were depicted as though it lay crouching with its lower
jaw on the ground between its outspread paws. Small oval windows,
which were likewise barred, flanked the doorway.
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