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     At the two sides of the pool Indiana saw the remnants of a wooden bridge. It must have collapsed into the pool long ago. Indiana couldn’t see any remnants in the pool, but assumed they had either dissolved or floated down the small stream that tricked out of the pool and around a bend in the cave. Indiana had noticed two small steams. His guess was that water flowed in a circular path, perhaps picking up nutrients from other parts of the cave as it flowed along. Some water was probably lost due to evaporation, but would be replaced by the small trickle of melted snow that flowed through the hole that let in sunlight.
     If Indiana was going to get to the door he would have to wade across the pool. The depth wasn’t a problem; the pool wasn’t deeper than his waist at any point. The only thing that concerned him was the pair of stingrays gliding in the pool. He turned his flashlight on, since it was nearly dark in the chamber and held his gun in his other hand. He considered shooting the two animals from the shore. That would solve his problem. It didn’t take him long to decide against this. The association of animals had somehow survived for thirteen hundred years. To Indiana, that was a bona fide miracle. Who was he to disrupt the already weakening balance? He would shoot the rays if need be, but only as a last resort.
     Indiana stepped into the water. He found it surprisingly cool compared to the temperature of the air. There was surely some melted snow in the pool. He took several steps, and the water was up to his knees before the rays took notice of him.
     Indiana readied his gun as the two thin fish swam toward him. He noticed that they were paler than any rays he had ever seen. Instead of black or dark gray, their bodies were closer to the sickly pink of cave fish. Indiana was glad, since that helped him to see them in the dark water.
     The first ray reached him, and Indiana tensed. The animal actually bumped into him, but it didn’t sting him. Indiana wondered if they could sting at all. The creature circled him once, as if waiting for his partner to get there to offer a second opinion on the strange new being in their pool. The second ray arrived shortly and circled Indiana, this time without a bump. Indiana stood as the two rays circled him. He was getting ready to risk another step when the backs of three more pinkish rays appeared.
     Despite himself, Indiana smiled. He had been stupid. Surely two rays weren’t enough to maintain a stable population. Who knew how many there could be in the pool, hiding along the bottom. Indiana hoped more strongly that the rays couldn’t sting.
     He pointed his gun at the nearest ray and took a step forward, ready to shoot the thing if it attacked. No attack came. Instead, the five rays shot away at the first sign of motion. Indiana smiled and moved forward as smoothly as possible, not wanting to disturb the animals more than necessary.
     As Indiana proceeded, the rays became bolder and swam closer and closer to him. But they didn’t attack. It was as if they were providing an escort for him as he walked along the pool. Indiana approached the other side unharmed, but the sudden motion as he pulled himself out of the pool caused one of the rays to sting him. He quickly pulled himself the rest of the way out before the rest of the rays could rush at him in a frenzy. They madly circled the water where his feet had last been. Indiana actually laughed. Things could have been worse. The single shock hurt, but Indiana couldn’t detect any major damage done. His leg felt ‘prickly’, as if it had fallen asleep and was just starting to wake up. Indiana shook the leg, and after a minute the sensation was gone.
     Indiana turned and faced the pedestal. It was indeed another puzzle. There was no statue, but there were again two holes on the top of the pedestal, each one written below lines of writing. There was a line down the top pedestal, dividing it in two. On the side of the pedestal were more lines written in the various languages, and a platform upon which rested a cylindrical stone. The stone looked like it could fit in either hole.
     Indiana read the line in Latin on the side of the pedestal. “Which is right,” it said. He was unsure what the question was asking. The word ‘dextra’ was used, which could mean right as in ‘correct’ or right as in ‘on the right side.’ If it meant the latter, then the puzzle was ridiculously easy. Indiana assumed it meant ‘correct’. He read the Greek line, and his suspicions were confirmed. The wording used was unambiguous; “Which is the proper side?”
     So, he had to choose the correct side. Indiana read the Latin line on the left side of the pedestal’s top. He couldn’t understand it. “Rammle-dammle,” he said aloud. Then he looked at the Latin on the right side. It said “Dammle-rammle.” Those were nonsense words. They had no meaning Indiana had ever heard of. He read the Greek lines. The one on the left would be pronounced phoenetically as “Rammle-dammle”. The line on the right would be pronounced as “Dammle-rammle”. Indiana then looked at the line written in Arabic. The pronunciation would have been slightly different, with a bit of a glottal stop, but essentially the lines said “Rammle-dammle” and “Dammle-rammle”.
     “So,” Indiana said, “they’re all the same.” He was almost certain that those ‘words’ weren’t in the vocabulary of any of the languages. They were nonsense words. Indiana decided that meant that it was the pronunciation of the words that was important. Which pronunciation was more correct? He said both words aloud several time. “Rammle-dammle”, “Dammle-rammle”. One of them definitely seemed to flow off the tongue easier. He assumed that one was the ‘right side’. Indiana didn’t hesitate.

He picked up the stone and placed it in the hole on the "Rammle-dammle side".

He picked up the stone and placed it in the hole on the "Dammle-rammle" side.

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