Yet we felt that it
was no stray visitor from another island that had peeped over the top of
the massive table, and it was with a suspicious eye upon the sleeping
Leith that we crept quietly over the coral rocks toward the tremendous
stone piers of the structure that rose like a monster gateway against
the gray sky. The atmosphere of that place was indescribable. We seemed
to be in the midst of relics that were older than the pyramids. The
temple of Luxor may seem impressive by moonlight, but the knowledge we
possess of Thebes in its glory somewhat modifies the awe which we would
feel if we knew nothing of the people who had raised the great monuments
in the city of Amen-Ra. And Holman and I knew nothing of the dead race
that erected the mighty stone table on the cleared slope, which by its
construction gave evidence of a knowledge of mechanics of which the
present-day Polynesian is entirely ignorant. I recalled the Nan-Tauch
ruins and the tombs of the mysterious Chan-te-leur kings Ola-Sipa and
Ola-Sopa in the Carolines, the _tolmas_ and the _langis_ of the
Marshall and Gilbert groups, and I wished the Professor anything but
pleasant dreams.
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