heard a priest command silence in a fierce voice.
The sobbing and laughter went on till it culminated in a shrill scream.
After the scream came the thud of a blow, a heavy fall, a groan, and
once again the invisible multitudes whispered and rustled.

"Someone has been killed," muttered Francisco in Leonard's ear; "who is
it, I wonder?"

Leonard shuddered, but made no answer, for a great hand was placed upon
his mouth in warning.

At length the portentous silence was broken and a voice spoke, the voice
of Nam the priest. In the silence all that he uttered could be heard
plainly, but his words came from far away, and the sound of them was
still and small. This was what he said, as Juanna told it to them after
the ceremony.

"Hear me, ye Children of the Snake, ye ancient People of the Mist!
Hearken to me, Nam, the priest of the Snake! Many a generation gone in
the beginning of time, so runs the legend, the Mother goddess whom we
worship from of old, descended from heaven and came hither to us, and
with her came the Snake, her child. While she tarried in the land the
crime of crimes was wrought, the Darkness slew the Daylight, and she
passed hence, we know not how, or where; and from that hour the land has
been a land of mist, and its people have wandered in the mist, for he
whose name is Darkness has ruled over them, answering their prayers with
death. But this doom was on the Snake, that because of his wickedness he
must put off the flesh of men and descend into the holy place of waters,
where, as we and our fathers have known, his symbol dwells eternally,
taking tribute of the lives of men.

"Yet ere that crime was wrought the Mother gave a word of promise to her
people. 'Now that I am about to die at the hands of him I bore, for so
it is fated,' she said. 'But not for ever do I leave you, and not for
ever shall the Snake be punished by putting off the flesh of men. Many
generations shall go by and we will return again and rule over you, and
the veil of mist shall be lifted from your land, and ye shall be great
in the earth. Till then, choose you kings and let them govern you;
moreover, forget not my worship, and see to it that throughout the ages
the altar of the Snake is wet with blood, and that he lacks not the food
he loves. And I will give you a sign by which we shall be known when at
length the fate is accomplished, and the hour of forgiveness is at hand.

"'As a fair maid will I come again, a maid lovely an