Around each of the inner columns, however,
there were two metal bands about two inches wide and thirty inches
apart. The lower ones were six feet from the floor. They were of
heavy gold with loops or hooks extending from each side, as if
festoons or connecting bands had once extended from pillar to
pillar.
"Not a bad substitute!" exclaimed Ned.
The second line of twelve columns had similar rings of silver, as
the boys discovered in good time. The movable contents of the room
were not easily examined, as each object on the floor was buried
under a mound of heavy, suffocating dust. Bats had made the place
an undisturbed refuge, and the repulsive flutter of these creatures
was disconcerting.
A preliminary examination of the four lateral passages and the rooms
at their far end showed that these were probably store rooms,
excepting the one on the east side. Here, on shelves, fixed on
columns or posts similar to the colored supports in the principal
chamber, were eight oblong forms. Even the dust and refuse could
not disguise the nature of these--they were unmistakably mummies,
the embalmed bodies of either chiefs or priests.
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