After the scream came the thud of a blow, a heavy fall, a groan, and
once again the invisible multitudes whispered and rustled.

"Someone has been killed," muttered Francisco in Leonard's ear; "who is
it, I wonder?"

Leonard shuddered, but made no answer, for a great hand was placed upon
his mouth in warning.

At length the portentous silence was broken and a voice spoke, the voice
of Nam the priest. In the silence all that he uttered could be heard
plainly, but his words came from far away, and the sound of them was
still and small. This was what he said, as Juanna told it to them after
the ceremony.

"Hear me, ye Children of the Snake, ye ancient People of the Mist!
Hearken to me, Nam, the priest of the Snake! Many a generation gone in
the beginning of time, so runs the legend, the Mother goddess whom we
worship from of old, descended from heaven and came hither to us, and
with her came the Snake, her child. While she tarried in the land the
crime of crimes was wrought, the Darkness slew the Daylight, and she
passed hence, we know not how, or where; and from that hour the land has
been a land of mist, and its people have wandered in the mist, for he
whose name is Darkness has ruled over them, answering their prayers with
death. But this doom was on the Snake, that because of his wickedness he
must put off the flesh of men and descend into the holy place of waters,
where, as we and our fathers have known, his symbol dwells eternally,
taking tribute of the lives of men.

"Yet ere that crime was wrought the Mother gave a word of promise to her