"It is well," said Nam when the tumult had died away. "Hearken, ye high
gods! O Aca! and O Jal! Bend down your ears and deign to hearken to your
priest and servant, speaking in the name of your children, the People
of the Mist. Be ye kings to reign over us! Accept the power and the
sacrifice, and sit in the place of kings. We give you rule through all
the land; the life of every dweller in the land is yours; yours are
their cattle and their goats, their city and their armies. For you the
altars shall run red, the cry of the victim shall be music in your ears.
Ye shall look upon him whom long ago ye set to guard the secret awful
place, and he shall crawl beneath your feet. As ye ruled our fathers so
ye shall rule us, according to the customs which ye laid down for ever.
Glory be to you, O Aca, and to you, O Jal! immortal kings for evermore!"

And in a shout that rent the skies the great audience echoed: "Glory be
to you, O Aca, and to you, O Jal, immortal kings for evermore!"

Then Nam spoke again, saying: "Bring forth the virgin, that fair maid
who is destined to the Snake, that he may look upon her and accept her
as his wife. Bring her forth also who, twelve months gone, was vowed in
marriage to the Shape of stone, that she may bid her lord farewell."

As he spoke there was a stir behind the idol, and presently from each
side of it a woman was led forward by two priests on to the little space
of rock between its feet and the edge of the gulf, and placed one to the
right of the altar, and one to the left. Both these women were tall and
lovely with the dark and somewhat terrifying beauty of the People of the
Mist, but there the resemblance between them ended. She to the right was
naked except for a girdle of snake-skin and the covering of her abundant
hair, which was crowned with a wreath of red lilies similar to the