as of
considerable size, though low and thatched merely with palm-leaves.
There were no windows, and only one door; this was now thrown open, when
what looked to me like a huge skeleton appeared at the entrance, and
waved its bony arms wildly about, beckoning the people to enter. They
started to their feet, for they had hitherto been squatting round, and
rushed eagerly to the door. Rob and I followed, when we discovered that
the seeming skeleton was the Obeah man, Cudjoe, who had thus painted his
black body from head to foot. The hut was lighted by some twenty small
lamps, hung from the roof, and in the centre was a figure intended to
represent a human being, with an enormous cock's head. Master Cudjoe,
if he was the artist, had contrived to produce as hideous-looking a
monster as could well be imagined. `That's the fetish,' whispered Rob;
`they worship it as if it were a god.'

"Cudjoe, on seeing us, asked in an angry tone what we wanted, and Rob
spoke to him as he had done to the other people. `Den you keep quiet,
buccra,' he said, turning to me; `I no hab laffee or talkee.' I assured
him that I would remain as still as a mouse; and with a growl he retired
again inside the hut, where he seated himself in front of a huge
tom-tom, the African drum, and began slowly to beat it, chanting at the
same time one of his native songs, I concluded. Gradually he beat
faster and faster, accompanying the music, if such it could be called,
with his voice. The spectators sat listening in rapt attention, when
suddenly one of the women started up and began dancing, keeping capital
time to the music. The faster Cudjoe played the faster she danced, till
every limb and muscle seemed in movement. Round and round she went in
front of the hideous fetish: no dervish of the East could have danced
more furiously. Presently she was joined by a man, who danced in the
same manner round and round her. One after the other, the whole of the
women, with partners, took a part in the performance; I could scarcely
follow their dark figures, except by the ornaments they wore, as they
moved in eccentric courses within the hut, the tom-tom beating louder
and louder, and the people moving faster. The spectators had hitherto
sat quiet; they at length rose, and were, I saw, apparently about to
join in the saturnalia. Just then Rob touched me on the arm and
whispered, `Come away, sir; I heard something which told me it will not
be safe to remain