d hand upon the mask that hid her face. Next moment she was gone.
How she went, or whither, I cannot say; all we knew was that she was no
longer there.

"What shall we do now?" whispered Leo to me.

"Stay where we are till she comes back again or something happens," I
answered.

So there being nothing else to be done, we stayed, hoping that the
horse would not betray us by neighing, or that we might not be otherwise
discovered, since we were certain that if so we should be in danger of
death. Very soon, however, we forgot the anxieties of our own position
in the study of the wild scene before us, which now began to develop a
fearful interest.

It would seem that what has been described was but preliminary to the
drama itself, and that this drama was the trial of certain people for
their lives. This we could guess, for after awhile the incantation
ceased and the crowd in front of the big man with the cat upon his head
opened out, while behind him a column of smoke rose into the air, as
though light had been set to some sunk furnace.

Into the space that had thus been cleared were now led seven persons,
whose hands were tied behind them. They were of both sexes and included
an old man and a woman with a tall and handsome figure, who appeared
to be quite young, scarcely more than a girl indeed. These seven were
ranged in a line where they stood, clearly in great fear, for the old
man fell upon his knees and one of the women began to sob. Thus they
were left awhile, perhaps to allow the fire behind them to burn up,
which it soon did with great fierceness, throwing a vivid light upon
every detail of the spectacle.

Now all was ready, and a man brought a wooden tray to the red-bearded
priest, who was seated on a stool, the white cat upon his knees, whither
we had seen it leap from his head a little while before. He took the
tray by its handles and at a word from him the cat jumped on to it and
sat there. Then amidst the most intense silence he rose and uttered some
prayer, apparently to the cat, which sat facing him. This done he turned
the tray round so that the creature's back was now towards him, and,
advancing to the line of prisoners, began to walk up and down in front
of them, which he did several times, at each turn drawing a little
nearer.

Holding out the tray, he presented it at the face of the prisoner on the
left, whereon the cat rose, arched its back and began to lift its paws
up and down. Presently he m