was here and there corroded into rusty excrescences, as though some
fungus or lichen had grown upon it like grey moss on an ancient wall.
Indeed, its appearance seemed to point to extreme antiquity.[*]

[*] Crocodiles are proverbially long-lived, but Leonard could never
discover the age of this particular reptile. On enquiry he was able to
trace it back for three hundred yards, and tradition said that it had
always dwelt among the People of the Mist from "the beginning of time."
At least it was very old, and under the name of the Snake had been an
object of worship for many generations. How it came among the People of
the Mist is difficult to say, for no other specimen appeared to exist in
the country. Perhaps it was captured in some distant age and placed in
the cave by the priests, to figure as an incarnation of the Snake that
was the object of their worship.

Hearing the disturbance in the water, the reptile had emerged from the
cave where it dwelt beneath the feet of the idol, to seek its accustomed
food, which consisted of the human victims that were cast to it at
certain intervals. It reared its hideous head and glared round, then of
a sudden the monster and the victim vanished together into the depths.

Sick with horror Leonard drew himself back into a sitting posture, and
glanced up at Juanna. She was crouched in her ivory chair overcome, and
her eyes were closed, either through faintness or to shut out the sight
of dread. Then he looked down at Otter. The dwarf, staring fixedly at
the water, sat still as the stone effigy that supported him. Evidently
in all his varied experience he had seen no such thing as this.

"The Snake has accepted the sacrifice," cried Nam again; "the Snake has
taken her who was his bride to dwell with him in his holy house. Let the