above caught his eye. He looked up.

There are men who would have lost their wits in terror at that sight. The
snakes were there, hundreds of them, perched upon the thickness of the
wall--the ridge of their bodies gleaming in the red light of sunset, their
long necks hanging down, waving and twining. Every head was turned towards
him, the glass-bright eyes fixed on his, and the tongues slithering with
eagerness. Nightmare was never so horrible.

For an instant Boville stood frozen, with dropped jaw and starting eyes,
the icy sweat streaming from every pore; then, howling in no human voice,
he burst through the doorway, through the guard, and fell in the midst of
a party advancing.

All the Europeans in Whydah were there, with the Viceroy himself, and the
head fetich man. The horrid absurdity of their equipment I have no room to
describe. The white men had been pleading, even threatening, and the
Viceroy supported them. When Boville dropped at their feet the last word
had been spoken. His punishment should be that decreed against the man who
kills a snake by evil chance--no worse.

'What is that?' Boville panted, when the agent who held him in his arms
had explained.

'Never mind--we'll do our best! And it is to be at once, thank God! Night
will soon be here!'

'Don't go--not all of you! Don't leave me with these devils!'

'We must, poor boy--to arrange. But we shall return.'

Boville remained among a group of fetich men, who sang and capered round,
making gruesome pantomime of tortures. Meanwhile, others were busy at a
shed with spades and bundles of reed. Dusk was settling down when they had
finished. The head priests returning took their stations, surrounded by
men with torches still unlit. All the population was gathered round the
holy area.

Mr. Blank came back with others. 'Listen,' he said. 'They are going to put
you--unbound--in a hole, cover you with reeds, and set them alight. You
must spring up and run to the nearest water, all these brutes after you.
But I have arranged with many of them, and they will intercept the others.
Now mark, for your life may depend on it! The law is that one who kills a
snake shall be cut and hacked till he reaches water! They expect you to
make for the river, but there is a pond on the very edge of the fetich
wood yonder! See? You make for that! You can't miss it if you go straight
between the torches and the temple. You understand? Now summon your
courage, man, and run f