The sacred fire seems to confirm the suspicion." "Sacred fire! vestal virgins, too, I suppose! can they be Romans ?" reasoned Aunt Maria, beginning to doubt Prince Madoc.
"The vestal virgins here are old men," replied Ralph, wickedly pleased to get a joke on the lady.
"Oh! The Moquis are not Romans," decided Mrs Stanley.

"Well, what do these old men do ?" "Keep the fire burning." "What if it should go out?
What would happen ?" "I don't know," responded the sub-acid Thurstane.
"I didn't suppose you did," said Aunt Maria pettishly.

"Captain Glover, I want you to come with me." Followed by the subservient skipper, she marched to the other end of the pueblo.

There was the mysterious apartment; it was not really a temple, but a sort of public hall and general lounging place; such rooms exist in the Spanish-speaking pueblos of Zuni and Laguna, and are there called _estufas_.

The explorers soon discovered that the only entrance into the estufa was by a trapdoor and a ladder.