ing, the madness of the multitude increased. Many men
and women--ay, and little children, too--all dropped to their knees,
heedless of being trodden underfoot by the unfallen frenzied, and thus
crept the length of the earthen floor to the foot of the rude altar.
Here, before the pulpit of rough-hewn logs, great heaps of straw were
strewn thick and broadcast. On these straw heaps men and women fell
prostrate side by side, and lay as if they were dead. Others, both men
and women, were suddenly seized with the unnatural, convulsive jerking
which gave this mysterious visitation its best-known name. Under this
dreadful tremor the long hair of delicate ladies poured unnoticed over
the most modest shoulders and flew back and forth with the sound of a
whip; for those so wildly wrought upon were not solely of the humble and
the ignorant. The highest and the most refined of the whole country were
there. The earth was strewn with costly raiment. Gentlemen rent the fine
ruffles from their wrists and their bosoms; gentlewomen cast their
richest ornaments to the winds. And all the while that this awful,
majestic, soul-stirring chant was thus mounting higher and growing
wilder, many were whirling and dancing.

David shrunk back, and the doctor drew him closer to his side, as a man
suddenly burst out of the swirling mass of maddened humanity, and dashed
past them into the forest. There, still within the wide circle of
flaring, smoking, torchlight, the poor creature threw his arms around a
tree, and uttering strange, savage cries like the barking of a dog, he
dashed his head against the tree-trunk till the blood gushed out and
poured down his ghastly face. David clung closer to the doctor's arm and
turned his eyes away, feeling sick and faint with horror.

"Don't look at him. Turn your head. I must go to him and help him if I
can," the doctor said, gently loosing the boy's grasp. "I shouldn't have
brought you here. But--Good God! Who is that?" he cried sharply. "Look!
Quick! Do you know that girl? Over there by the last pillar--yonder,
yonder, with her face turned this way!"

In his eagerness he seized the boy, fairly lifting him from the ground,
and held him up so that he could see over all the heads of the surging,
swirling crowd. The girl was still there, and David recognized Ruth. She
was standing not far off and near the edge of the shed. Close behind her
the torches threw out gloomy banners of smoke and vivid streamers of
flame,