Meinik was so confident, in the white man's power to combat even evil spirits, that he approached the temple with Stanley without betraying any nervousness.

They had provided themselves with some torches of resinous wood, and Meinik carried a couple of brands from their fire.
The chamber they had before been in was apparently the largest in the temple, but there were several other openings in the rock.
"That is the entrance we will try first," Stanley said, pointing to one some ten feet from the ground.

"You see there were once some steps leading up to it.

No doubt, where we are standing there was a temple built against the face of that rock; and probably that doorway led into one of the priests' chambers." It was necessary to pile three or four blocks of stone on the top of the two steps that alone remained intact, in order to enable them to reach the entrance.
"Let me light the torches before you go in," Meinik said.

"There may be snakes." "That is hardly likely, Meinik.