Go back down the ladder.

You climb back down the ladder. The rumbling noise stops just before you reach the bottom. You notice that in front of the stone panel there is now a column of stone which seems to have risen up from the floor. On top of the column is a stone rod about a foot long and an inch and a half wide. Everything else seems unchanged.

In the distance behind you, you can hear the echoes of voices and footsteps. The chief and his men must have found a way into the pyramid!