the dark, which
stole down on us with an unspeakable mystery. For long we sat still, the
clatter of many tongues becoming stilled into the witchery of the scene.
Lower the sun sank, till only the ruddiness of the afterglow lit the
expanse with rosy light; then this failed in turn, and the night shut
down quickly.

At last, when we could just discern the faces close to us, a simultaneous
movement began. Lights began to flash out in places all over the
hillside. At first these seemed as tiny as glow-worms seen in a summer
wood, but by degrees they grew till the space was set with little circles
of light. These in turn grew and grew in both number and strength.
Flames began to leap out from piles of wood, torches were lighted and
held high. Then the music began again, softly at first, but then louder
as the musicians began to gather to the centre, where sat the King and
Queen. The music was wild and semi-barbaric, but full of sweet melody.
It somehow seemed to bring before us a distant past; one and all,
according to the strength of our imagination and the volume of our
knowledge, saw episodes and phases of bygone history come before us.
There was a wonderful rhythmic, almost choric, force in the time kept,
which made it almost impossible to sit still. It was an invitation to
the dance such as I had never before heard in any nation or at any time.
Then the lights began to gather round. Once more the mountaineers took
something of the same formation as at the crowning. Where the royal
party sat was a level mead, with crisp, short grass, and round it what
one might well call the Ring of the Nation was formed.

The music grew louder. Each mountaineer who had not a lit torch already
lighted one, and the whole rising hillside was a glory of light. The
Queen rose, and the King an instant after. As they rose men stepped
forward and carried away their chairs, or rather thrones. The Queen gave
the King her hand--this is, it seems, the privilege of the wife as
distinguished from any other woman. Their feet took the time of the
music, and they moved into the centre of the ring.

That dance was another thing to remember, won from the haunting memories
of that strange day. At first the King and Queen danced all alone. They
began with stately movement, but as the music quickened their feet kept
time, and the swing of their bodies with movements kept growing more and
more ecstatic at every beat till, in true Balkan fash