CHAPTER III

A CHANGE OF LODGINGS

The great face stared down upon the little party gathered beneath it.  Its chin was about eight feet above the ground, and its stony countenance extended at least that distance up the cliff.  Its features were in low relief, but clear and distinct, and a smoke-blackened patch beneath one of its eyes gave it a sinister appearance.  From its wide-stretching mouth a bit of half-burnt vine hung, trembling in the heated air, and this element of motion produced the impression on several of the party that the creature was about to open its lips.

Mrs. Cliff gave a little scream,—­she could not help it,—­and Maka sank down on his knees, his back to the rock, and covered his face with his hands.  Ralph was the first to speak.

“There have been heathen around here,” he said.  “That’s a regular idol.”

“You are right,” said the captain.  “That is a bit of old-time work.  That face was cut by the original natives.”

The two ladies were so interested, and even excited, that they seized each other by the hands.  Here before their faces was a piece of sculpture doubtless done by the people of ancient Peru, that people who were discovered by Pizarro; and this great idol, or whatever it was, had perhaps never before been seen by civilized eyes.  It was wonderful, and in the conjecture and exclamation of the next half-hour everything else was forgotten, even the three sailors.

Because the captain was the captain, it was natural that every one should look to him for some suggestion as to why this great stone face should have been carved here on this lonely and desolate rock.  But he shook his head.

“I have no ideas about it,” he said, “except that it must have been some sort of a landmark.  It looks out toward the sea, and perhaps the ancient inhabitants put it there so that people in ships, coming near enough to the coast, should know where they were.  Perhaps it was intended to act as a lighthouse to warn seamen off a dangerous coast.  But I must say that I do not see how it could do that, for they would have had to come pretty close to the shore to see it, unless they had better glasses than we have.”

The sun was now near the horizon, and Maka was lifted to his feet by the captain, and ordered to stop groaning in African, and go to work to get supper on the glowing embers of the vines.  He obeyed, of course, but never did he turn his face upward to that gaunt countenance, which grinned and winked and frowned whenever a bit of twig blazed up, or the coals were stirred by the trembling negro.

After supper and until the light had nearly faded from the western sky, the two ladies sat and watched that vast face upon the rocks, its features growing more and more solemn as the light decreased.

“I wish I had a long-handled broom,” said Mrs. Cliff, “for if the dust and smoke and ashes of burnt leaves were brushed from off its nose and eyebrows, I believe it would have a rather gracious expression.”