Listen: the sun
will not shine to-morrow at the dawn; already the mist gathers thick
and it will hold, therefore the Shepherdess and the Dwarf will be
hurled from the head of the statue, while you and the Bald-pate, having
witnessed their end, will be kept alive till the autumn sacrifice, then
to be offered up with the other victims."

"Why do you come to tell us all this, woman?" said Leonard, "seeing that
we knew it already--that is, except the news of the postponement of
our own fate, which I for one do not desire. What hope is there in this
story? If you have nothing better to say, get you gone, traitress, and
let us see your hateful face no more."

"I have something more to say, Deliverer. I still love the Shepherdess
as you love her, and," she added with emphasis, "as Bald-pate yonder
also loves her. Now this is my plan: two must die at dawn, but of those
two the Shepherdess need not be one. The morning will be misty, the
statue of the god is high, and but few of the priests will see the
victim shrouded in her black robe. What if a substitute can be found so
like to her in shape and height and feature that, in the twilight and
beneath the shadow of the hood, none shall know them apart?"

Leonard started. "Who can be found?"

Slowly Soa raised her thin hand and pointed to Francisco.

"_There stands the man!_" she said. "Were he wrapped in the cloak of
Aca, who would know him from the Shepherdess? The pool and the Snake do
not give back that which they have swallowed."

If Leonard had started before, now he fairly recoiled, as the full
meaning of this terrible proposition possessed his mind. He looked at
Francisco, who stood by wondering, for the priest did not understand the
Sisutu dialect.

"Tell him," she said.

"Wait awhile," he answered hoarsely; "supposing that this were carried
out, what would happen to the Shepherdess?"

"She would be concealed in the dungeons of the temple, in his dress and
under his name," and again she pointed to Francisco, "until such time
as a chance could be found for her to escape, or to return to rule this
people unquestioned and with honour. My father alone knows of this plot,
and because of his love for me he suffers me to try it, desperate as it
seems. Also, for I will tell you all the truth, he is himself in
danger, and he believes that by means of the Shepherdess--who, when she
reappears having survived the sacrifice, will be held by the people to
be immortal--he may