amed at the mouth--her eyes were turned literally
inward so that nothing but the white was visible. Her body swayed to
and fro in short, irregular jerks, as though avoiding the attack of
unseen enemies. The live serpent, which, grasped by the neck, she held
aloft in the air, writhed its sinuous length, and with hood expanded and
eyes scintillating, was hissing ferociously. The effect upon the savage
audience was striking. Not a word was uttered--not a finger moved. All
sat motionless, like so many statues of bronze, every eye bent in
awesome entrancement upon the seer. Even Eustace felt the original
contemptuous interest with which he had watched the performance deepen
into a blood-curdling sort of repulsion. From the stage of mere
jugglery the case had entered upon one which began to look uncommonly
like genuine diabolical possession.

"I am in the gloom of the depths," shrieked the hideous sorceress, "even
the Home of the Immortal Serpents, which none can find save those who
are beloved of the spirits. The air is black and thick. It is shining
with eyes--eyes, eyes--everywhere eyes. The ground is alive with
serpents, even the spirits of our valiant dead, and they speak. They
speak but one word and that is `Blood! Blood--blood--blood!'" repeated
the frightful monster. "Blood must flow! blood! blood!" And uttering a
series of deafening howls she fell prone to the earth in frightful
convulsions.

Not one of the spectators moved. The hideous features working, the eyes
rolling till they seemed about to drop from their sockets, the foam
flying from the lips--the body of Ngcenika seeming to stiffen itself
like a corpse, bounded many feet in the air, and falling to the earth
with a heavy thud, bounded and rebounded again--the festoons of
barbarous and disgusting ornaments which adorned her person, twisting
and untwisting in the air like clusters of snakes. The live
_rinkhaals_, which had escaped from her grasp, lay coiled in an attitude
of defence, its head reared threateningly.

For some minutes this appalling scene continued. Then the horrible
contortions of the body ceased. The witch-doctress lay motionless; the
swollen eyes, the terrible face, set and rigid, staring up to Heaven.
She might have been dead. So, too, might have been the spectators, so
still, so motionless were they.

The suspense was becoming horrible, the silence crushing. There was
just a whisper of air among the leaves of the surro