ome twenty feet from this eastern wall there was an immense figure--or
statue--of the Winged Serpent, reproduced in the middle of the square
and on the domes of the temple, and before it stood a very large altar
which bore evidences that sacrifices were continually offered upon it.

Upon entering the building the two friends were under the impression
that it was empty; but they had scarcely been in it ten minutes, and
were standing before the altar, studying the marvellous modelling of the
Winged Serpent, when a strain of music smote upon their ears, and the
next moment a curtain parted and a company of priests, some sixty in
number, of whom about a third were playing upon quaint-looking musical
instruments, filed into the building, headed by Zorah, their
acquaintance of an hour or two earlier. Advancing with slow and solemn
steps they halted before the two friends and, after bowing profoundly to
Earle, broke into a slow and solemn chant, which gradually changed into
a kind of triumphal hymn, at the conclusion of which they again bowed
until their foreheads almost touched the pavement, and then filed out
again.

The two white men, completely taken aback by the solemnity and
unexpectedness of this apparently impromptu ceremony, knew not what to
do, and therefore did nothing, which, as afterwards transpired, was the
wisest course they could possibly have adopted. For, although they were
quite unaware of it at the moment, their every movement was being
carefully watched, and when they entered the temple, Zorah, the high
priest, was instantly informed of the fact; whereupon he marshalled his
subordinate priests and carried out the ceremony above recorded, in
order to do honour to the individual who, in virtue of his possession of
the mysterious jewel bearing the "sign" of Kuhlacan, the Winged Serpent,
was implicitly believed to be either Kuhlacan's special ambassador to
the Uluans, or, possibly, a human incarnation of Kuhlacan himself. The
ceremony brought home a vague inkling of this state of affairs to both
of the individuals most intimately concerned, and Earle, while
expressing some embarrassment and dislike of the position in which he
found himself placed, announced to Dick his determination to accept it,
in the hope and belief that, before leaving Ulua, it might be his good
fortune to wield the authority with which he was endowed for the benefit
and advantage of the people, and quite possibly, the correction of
ab