CHAPTER XXIII

HOW JUANNA CONQUERED NAM

Still the silence endured, and still the moonlight grew, creeping lower
and lower till it shone upon the face of the seething waters, and,
except in the immediate shadow of the walls, all the amphitheatre was
full of it.

Then the voice of Nam spoke again from far away, and Leonard looked to
see whence he spoke. Now he saw. Nam, attended by three priests, was
perched like an eagle on the left palm of the colossus, and from this
dizzy platform he addressed the multitude. Looking across the breast of
the statue, Leonard could just see the outstretched arm and the fierce
face of the high priest as he glared down upon the people.

"Hearken, ye Dwellers in the Mist, Children of the Snake! Ye have seen
your ancient gods, your Father and your Mother, come back to rule you
and to lead you on through war to peace, to wealth, to power, and to
glory. Ye see them now by that light and in that place wherein only it
is lawful that ye should look upon them. Say, do ye believe and do ye
accept them? Answer, every one of you, answer with your voice!"

Then a mighty roar of sound went up from the gathered thousands, a roar
that shaped itself into the words:

"We believe and we accept."

"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