Confident that a continuation of his bravado would best serve his
purpose, and also that if suspicion against him should crystallize
into conviction on the part of Mo-sar and his followers that he
would be no worse off in the temple than in the palace, the ape-man
haughtily accepted the invitation of the high priest.
And so he came into the temple and was received in a manner befitting
his high claims. He questioned the two priests of A-lur from whom
he obtained only a repetition of the story that Mo-sar had told
him, and then the high priest invited him to inspect the temple.
They took him first to the altar court, of which there was only one
in Tu-lur. It was almost identical in every respect with those at
A-lur. There was a bloody altar at the east end and the drowning
basin at the west, and the grizzly fringes upon the headdresses of
the priests attested the fact that the eastern altar was an active
force in the rites of the temple. Through the chambers and corridors
beneath they led him, and finally, with torch bearers to light
their steps, into a damp and gloomy labyrinth at a low level and
here in a large chamber, the air of which was still heavy with
the odor of lions, the crafty priests of Tu-lur encompassed their
shrewd design.
The torches were suddenly extinguished.
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