In front of this window was a stone
bench or altar. The meaning of it the boys did not know. This room
was barren of either decoration or utensil and it was half full of
the debris of what had apparently been another arched stone roof.
Only the front or eastern side of the structure was coated with the
precious turquoise; the other sides of the column were of plain,
fairly well fitted, mortarless stone blocks.
CHAPTER XXVIII
THE COLLAPSE OF THE CIBOLA
An opening in the paved court in the rear of the Temple, half filled
with drifted sand, led into a "khiva" or secret religious council
chamber beneath. Herein the young adventurers discovered their
wonderland and the reward for all their labors.
Hastily returning to the balloon, they procured candles and
improvised scoops out of the sides of the tin emergency ration case
obtained from the Arrow. Major Honeywell had warned the boys that
the floors of all closed chambers of this sort were covered with the
accumulated dust of ages.
The first examination of the "khiva" resulted in disappointment.
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