peaked head of the worthy sectary was almost lost within its capacious
interior. No sooner, however, did he attain her side than the woman
grasped it in her white fingers, flinging it disdainfully upon the
floor, and, like a flash of unexpected color in the dancing light of
the fire, there blazed forth before us his flaming covering with a
brilliancy which startled even me. Saint Andrew! it was a glow to make
the eyes blink.

The sudden effect of this disclosure upon the thronging warriors was
beyond words of mine. There followed a hush so painful in intensity I
could distinguish the quick throbbing of my own heart. I saw the woman
point at the fellow, giving eager utterance to a single word, her eyes
sweeping the faces below. Then came an irregular rush forward,
inarticulate cries pierced the air, war weapons were dashed clanging
upon the earthen floor, while numerous torches, grasped from off the
sacred altar, were waved aloft by excited hands, all serving to form as
demoniacal a scene as was ever witnessed this side of hell.

The full truth flashed across my mind--our comrade had in that moment
been changed from a helpless, beaten prisoner into an object of
superstitious worship. By the magic of a word, the alchemy of a
thought, he had become to these superstitious savages a mysterious
visitant from the Sun, and for once, at least, he might fervently bless
Nature, who had bestowed upon him so rich a coloring of hair. Whether
or not the fellow comprehended the meaning of that uproar, of those
wildly dancing figures in his front, I could never determine; but,
before the woman could in any way interfere, the sectary plumped down
upon his knees, and, with head bent so low that every separate hair
caught the reflection of the ruddy flames, began pouring forth a
petition in sturdy English, and with a volume of voice that shook the
whole interior. It was not such a bad play, I take it, although he was
desperately in earnest. Very plainly he compared his worshipping
auditory to certain scriptural characters, in a way that would not have
proven flattering to them could they have interpreted his language.

"Oh, Lord God!" he roared, rolling his eyes upward and interjecting
many a deep groan after each sentence. "Infinite Jehovah, for some
just reason of Thy own, Thou hast seen fit to lead Thy most humble
servant into this den of iniquity. Thou hast placed me in the fiery
furnace of tribulation, it may be in the te