They
did not seem to speak, or if they spoke their voices were lost in the
sound of the thunder of the great cataract which dominated the place
with its sullen, continuous roar. It took Alan days to become accustomed
to that roar, but by the inhabitants of Asiki-land apparently it was not
noticed; their ears and voices were attuned to overcome its volume which
their fathers had known from the beginning.
Presently they were through the town and a wooden gate in an inner wall
which surrounded the park where the cedars grew. At this spot Alan noted
that everybody left them except the bearers and a few men whom he took
to be priests. On they stole like ghosts beneath the mighty trees, from
whose limbs hung long festoons of moss. It was very dark there, only in
places where a bough was broken the moonlight lay in white gules upon
the ground. Another wall and another gate, and suddenly the litter was
set down. Its curtains opened, torches flashed, women appeared clad in
white robes, veiled and mysterious, who bowed before him, then half led
and half lifted him from his litter. He could feel their eyes on him
through their veils, but he could not see their faces.
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