d down the amphitheatre and
scrambled from seat to seat among the audience, uttering a succession of
terrified "baa's." Indeed the scene was so comic that even that sombre
and silent people began to laugh, accustomed as they were on these
occasions to the hideous and impressive ceremonial of the midnight
sacrifice of so many human beings.

The ancient feast was a fiasco; this was a fact which could not be
concealed.

"Begone, ye People of the Mist," said Nam presently, pointing to the
dead animals. "The sacrifice is sacrificed, the festival of Jal is
done. May the Mother plead with the Snake that the sun may shine and
fruitfulness bless the land!"

Now scarcely ten minutes had elapsed since the beginning of the
ceremony, which in the ordinary course of events lasted through the
greater part of the night, for it was the custom to slaughter
each victim singly and with appropriate solemnities. A murmur of
disapprobation arose from the far end of the amphitheatre, that swelled
gradually to a roar. The people had been thankful to accept Juanna's
message of peace, but, brutalised as they were by the continual sight
of bloodshed, they were not willing to dispense with their carnivals
of human sacrifice. A Roman audience gathered to witness a gladiatorial
show, to find themselves treated instead to a donkey-race and a
cock-fight, could scarcely have shown more fury.

"Bring out the women! Let the victims be offered up to Jal as of old,"
the multitude yelled in their rage, and ten minutes or more elapsed
before they could be quieted.

Then Nam addressed them cunningly.

"People of the Mist," he said, "the gods have given us a new law, a law
of the sacrifice of oxen and goats in the place of men and maids, and ye
yourselves have welcomed that law. No longer shall the blood of victims
flow to Jal beneath the white rays of the moon while the chant of his
servants goes up to heaven. Nay, henceforth this holy place must be a
shambles for the kine. So be it, my children; in my old age I hear the
gods speaking in an altered voice and I obey them. It is nothing to
me who am about to die, yet I tell you that rather would I myself be
stretched upon the ancient stone than see the worship of our forefathers
thus turned into a mockery. The sacrifice is sacrificed: now may the
Maid intercede with the Snake that plenty may bless the land." And he
smiled satirically and turned away.

Those of the audience who were near enough to hear h