r sight, are yet the work of his hands. Let
virtue be the basis of knowledge, and let knowledge be as a slave before
her."

The worshippers at the shrine of the dread god raising their right hands
then repeated after the high priest some mystic words that, although
having no meaning for me, struck terror into Omar's heart.

"Hearken!" he whispered to me in an awed tone. "Hearken! Our conspiracy
against the Naya is already known! They are swearing allegiance to her,
and vowing vengeance against any who thwart her will. If we are detected
here as strangers it will mean certain death!"

I glanced around the strange, weird place, and could not suppress a
feeling of despair that we should ever leave it again alive. The faces of
the worshippers, men and women, illuminated by flaming flambeaux and
burning braziers, were all fierce and determined-looking, showing that
the worship of the Crocodile-god was conducted in no faint spirit. Before
this gigantic representation of the national deity, they became seized
with a religious mania that transformed them into veritable demons.

"Lo!" cried the silver-bearded priest. "Think, O people! of all our Great
White Queen hath done for you. She hath brought down the moon's rays from
the realms of night to lighten our darkness, she hath marked the courses
of the stars with her wand and reduced eccentric orbs to the obedience of
a system. She hath caught the swift-flying light and divided its rays;
she hath marshalled the emanations of the sun under their different-hued
banners, given symmetry and order to the glare of day, explained the dark
eternal laws of the Forest-god, and showed herself always acquainted with
the dictates of Zomara."

His hearers, swaying their bodies and performing all sorts of eccentric
antics, cried aloud in confirmation of the benefits bestowed upon Mo by
its queen.

"The secrets, too, of chemistry have been laid open by her," continued
the diminutive priest. "Inert matter is engaged in warlike commotion and
she hath brought fire down from the heavens to entertain her. She hath
placed our land in such a state of defence that no invader can approach
it; she hath brought from over the great black water the amazing
'pom-poms' of the English, which shed a thousand bullets at one charge,
and she hath caused cannon to be cast to project explosive shells beyond
the reach of the eye. She hath taught you at once the beauty of nature
and the folly of man. Truly she i