blood the
hearth-fires of his foes.'

Then on Laputa's forehead and bare breast he drew a bloody cross. 'I
seal thee,' said the voice, 'priest and king of God's people.' The ewer
was carried round the assembly, and each dipped his finger in it and
marked his forehead. I got a dab to add to the other marks on my face.

'Priest and king of God's people,' said the voice again, 'I call thee
to the inheritance of John. Priest and king was he, king of kings,
lord of hosts, master of the earth. When he ascended on high he left
to his son the sacred Snake, the ark of his valour, to be God's dower
and pledge to the people whom He has chosen.'

I could not make out what followed. It seemed to be a long roll of the
kings who had borne the Snake. None of them I knew, but at the end I
thought I caught the name of Tchaka the Terrible, and I remembered
Arcoll's tale.

The Keeper held in his arms a box of curiously wrought ivory, about two
feet long and one broad. He was standing beyond the ashes, from which,
in spite of the blood, thin streams of smoke still ascended. He opened
it, and drew out something which swung from his hand like a cascade of
red fire.

'Behold the Snake,' cried the Keeper, and every man in the assembly,
excepting Laputa and including me, bowed his head to the ground and
cried 'Ow.'

'Ye who have seen the Snake,' came the voice, on you is the vow of
silence and peace. No blood shall ye shed of man or beast, no flesh
shall ye eat till the vow is taken from you. From the hour of midnight
till sunrise on the second day ye are bound to God. Whoever shall
break the vow, on him shall the curse fall. His blood shall dry in his
veins, and his flesh shrink on his bones. He shall be an outlaw and
accursed, and there shall follow him through life and death the
Avengers of the Snake. Choose ye, my people; upon you is the vow.'

By this time we were all flat on our faces, and a great cry of assent
went up. I lifted my head as much as I dared to see what would happen
next.

The priest raised the necklace till it shone above his head like a halo
of blood. I have never seen such a jewel, and I think there has never
been another such on earth. Later I was to have the handling of it,
and could examine it closely, though now I had only a glimpse. There
were fifty-five rubies in it, the largest as big as a pigeon's egg, and
the least not smaller than my thumbnail. In shape they were oval, cut
on both sid