The big room was devoid of furniture save for the rugs and several blocks of stone grouped about the idol.  Ridgeway was convinced that they were in the sacred place of worship.  Seating themselves rather sacrilegiously upon the stone blocks, they looked about the place with tired, hopeless eyes.  The walls were hung with spears, war clubs and other ferocious weapons, evidently the implements of defence to be used by the stone deity in case of emergency.

“Well,” quoth Hugh, after the gloomy inspection, “they must think that gods don’t sleep.  I don’t see anything that looks like a berth around here.  God or no god, I am going to turn in somewhere for the night.  His Reverence may be disturbed if I snore, but I dare say his kick won’t amount to much.  I’ll pile some of these skins over in that corner for you and then I’ll build a nest for myself near the door.”  Suiting the action to the word, he proceeded to make a soft couch for her.  She sat by and watched him with troubled eyes.

“Do you think it safe to go to sleep when we don’t know what they may do during the night?  They may pounce upon us and kill us.”  Hugh paused in his work and walked to her side.

“Something tells me we are safe with these people.  We may as well make the best of it, anyhow.  We are in for it, and I’ll bet my soul we come out all right.  Go over there and sleep.  I’ll be the first one killed if they attempt violence.  Here’s a club that will down a few of them before they get the best of me.”  He took from the wall a great murderous-looking club and swung it about his head.

“I want to be killed first, Hugh, if it comes to that.  If you are merciful, you will kill me yourself when you see that it is their intention to do so,” she said earnestly.

“Pooh, there’s no danger,” he said, and went back to his work, impressed by her manner more than he cared to admit.  With her chin in her hands she resignedly watched him complete her bed of tiger skins.

“We have desecrated the temple by disturbing the rugs,” she said at length.

“I’ll have ’em make some hammocks for us to-morrow and we’ll hang ’em in each end of the temple.  And we’ll also have this place divided into two or three apartments, say two sleeping rooms and a parlor, perhaps a kitchen.  If necessary, an addition can be stuck on just back of where the idol stands.  There’ll be great doings around here when Yankee progress takes hold.”

“You surely do not mean to ruin their temple!  They will be up in arms, Hugh.”

“Well, they’ll have to endure a great many things if they expect to support such luxuries as we are.  If those fellows don’t quit falling down and bumping their faces on the ground, I’m going to have a lot of pads made for them to wear when they think there is danger of meeting us.  They’ll wear their faces out.”  It did him good to hear her laugh.  “Well, your bed is ready, my Lady.”

“I am dying for a drink of water.  Do you know how long it has been since we touched food and drink?”