midday
`` Moreover , oh , father and my brother , yonder my people do send you greeting and will entertain you for so long as you will . '' `` Wherefore we thank you , Atlamatzin , good friend , you and them , but if fire and battle are abroad we must on so soon as we may . '' So saying , Sir Richard got to his feet and we did the like and , taking up our gear , set off with what speed we might . By midday we were come in sight of this Indian city , a place strange beyond thought , it being builded in vast terraces that rose one upon another up the face of a great cliff , and embattled by divers many towers . And the nearer I came the more grew my wonder by reason of the hugeness of this structure , for these outer defences were builded of wrought stones , but of such monstrous bulk and might as seemed rather the work of sweating Titans than the labour of puny man ; as indeed I told Sir Richard . `` Aye , truly , Martin , '' said he , `` this is the abiding wonder ! Here standeth the noble monument of a once great and mighty people . ''