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"
"It may be," I answered; "but if so, how is it that the lake does not
fill up again with the rains and the water of the springs?"
"Nay, my son, the people were a wise people, and they left a drain to
keep it clear. Seest thou the river to the right?" and he pointed to a
fair-sized stream that wound away across the plain, some four miles from
us. "That is the drain, and it comes out through the mountain wall where
this cutting goes in. At first, perhaps, the water ran down this canal,
but afterwards the people turned it, and used the cutting for a road."
"And is there then no other place where one may enter into the great
mountain," I asked, "except through that drain?"
"There is a place," he answered, "where cattle and men on foot may cross
with much labour, but it is secret. A year mightest thou search and
shouldst never find it. It is only used once a year, when the herds of
cattle that have been fatting on the slopes of the mountain, and on this
plain, are driven into the space within.


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