d white, but because
of his sin the Snake shall appear in the shape of that which sits within
your temple, and his hue shall be black and his face hideous. Out of the
earth will we arise, and we will call to you and ye shall know us, and
we will tell you our holy names that shall not be spoken aloud from
this hour to that hour of our coming. But beware lest ye be deceived
and false gods set themselves up among you, for then shall the last evil
fall upon you and the sun shall hide his face.'

"Thus, Children of the Mist, did the Mother speak to him who was her
chief priest in the long ago, and he graved her words with iron on the
stone of that whereon I stand, but none can read that writing, for its
secret is lost to us, although the prophecy remains. And now the time is
full, and it has been given to me, his successor, in my old age, to see
the fulfilment of the saying.

"The time is full, and this night the promise of the past is
accomplished, for, People of the Mist, the immortal gods, whose names
are holy, have appeared to rule their children. Yesterday they came,
ye saw them, and in your ears they called aloud the sacred names. As a
maiden fair and white, and as a dwarf black and hideous, have they
come, and _Aca_ is the name of the maiden, and _Jal_ is the name of the
dwarf."

He ceased, and his voice died away in the echoes of the great place.
Once again there was silence, broken only by the seething sound of
waters and the indefinable murmur of an unseen throng beneath.

Leonard stood awhile, then edged himself gently forward with the design
of discovering where and upon what they were standing. His curiosity
soon met with a violent check, for before he had gone a yard he felt
that his right foot was dangling in space, and it was only by a strong
effort that he prevented himself from falling, whither he knew not.

Recovering his balance, he shuffled himself back again to the side of
Francisco, and whispered a warning to him not to move if he valued his
life. As Leonard spoke, he noticed that the blackness of the night
was turning grey with the light of the unrisen moon. Already her rays,
striking upwards, brightened the sky above and the mountains behind,
and from them fell a pale reflection, which grew gradually stronger and
clearer.

Now he could discover that close upon him to the left a black mass
towered high into the air, and that far beneath him gleamed something
like the foam on broken water. For a