ting the verdict of the Great Mother should not be allowed
to _die_.

Therefore more green and glistening leaves were placed upon the floor,
and food, and water in coarse earthenware, set upon them, until Cuxson
had revived sufficiently to eat, and enter into conversation with the
priest, who, seeing no reason to withhold the information sought, and
secure in the knowledge that the spreading jungle tied the sahib to the
temple even more securely than the thongs of hide, gradually unfolded
to him the dark history of the girl he loved.

"Eighteen years," began the tranquil voice of the old man, "as the
sahibs count the passing of the moons, have gone since a high caste
woman knelt at full moon in this temple at the foot of the altar of
Kali, the Goddess of Destruction.

"Kali the Black One; daughter of the Himalayas, wife of Siva! Durga
the inaccessible, Uma so sweet!

"Chandika the fierce, Parvati who steppeth lightly upon the mountains.

"Bhairavi the terrible, Kali of death, Kali! Kali!"

The old priest, who had leapt to his feet under the exaltation of his
worship, sank down again upon the floor, and continued his tale in the
Indian tongue.

"The high caste woman, chief wife of a great prince of Northern India,
held in her arms her first, her only son, a weakling, a sickly babe
nigh unto death. Thrice had she been shamed by the birth of a woman
child, and now her crown, her glory, her great gift unto her lord was
like to die.

"Followed only by her body servant she had sped from her palace in the
shadows of the Everlasting Hills, even unto the southernmost limits of
Bengal, a pilgrim to this holy, secret temple where I pass my last days
in sacrifice and worship; I, even I, foremost _guru_, once teacher of
the Thugs, those beloved servants of Kali--before the law of the white
man forbade their sacrifices unto the goddess."

Jan Cuxson, knowing of the sacrifices both human and animal offered in
bygone days to the terrible goddess, shivered as the horror of the
place seemed to close in upon him.

"The high caste woman demanding from the Goddess of Death the boon of
life for her son, cast her jewels upon the altar and made promise of
cattle and grain and her three daughters as handmaidens in the secret
places of the temple. And I, aforetime great among the Thugs, lamented
that I had but a coal black kid to offer as a sacrifice, for behold,
Kali demands _life for life_, and _will not be denied_.

"Flowers