tortion, their
movements increasing in violence, their grotesquely painted faces
becoming hellish from awakening passion. They became brutes, fiends,
whose only thought was cruelty. I saw them strike each other with
stone knives, slashing the flesh till blood ran. Heartsick and
trembling, I glanced aside at my companions. The _pere_ lay clasping
the stone, his eyes wide with horror, his countenance death-like;
Cairnes was upon his knees, his great hands gripped, staring straight
down like some animal crouching for a spring.

It was when I turned back, loathing the sight yet unable to resist
facing it, that I beheld for the first time those I sought--Eloise, De
Noyan, and the Queen Naladi. An instant I blinded my eyes with
uplifted arm, half believing that the horror had turned my brain, that
all this was vision. Yet, as I ventured to look again, they were there
before me in the flesh--Naladi all in red, a wondrous figure amid that
spectral glow, tall, straight, with proud, imperious face, crowned by
the brilliant hair, radiant and sparkling in the flame. Beside her
loitered De Noyan, like one who enjoyed a spectacle arranged for his
pleasure, his face darkening somewhat as though the sight were not
altogether to his liking, yet debonair and careless, his waxed
moustaches standing forth conspicuous, his fingers in his waist-belt.
About the two were ranged a fringe of warriors, their flint-headed
spears rising an impenetrable wall, while farther behind, separated and
alone, the light of the fire barely revealing her presence, stood
Eloise, a savage guard on either side of her. I caught the outline of
her face, imprinted with horror, the lips moving as if in supplication;
then I perceived something else--_her hands were bound_! Smothering an
oath, I crept back to the pile of weapons in the corner, gripped a
war-club, and, returning as silently, thrust a second into the
unconscious hands of Cairnes. Our eyes met, the sectary nodding
grimly, his jaws set like a steel trap. If need should arise we would
die fighting like cornered rats.

Their yells reverberating to the vaulted roof, the smoking torches
gyrating wildly above them, the throng of crazed fanatics were now upon
their feet, crowding toward the platform, every tongue clamoring in
incessant demand. All was confusion, a medley of noise and motion,
tossing arms, and painted faces. Finally, I caught a glimpse of
Naladi's red robe scarcely ten feet away, a