At length, quite of a sudden, they emerged into
moonlight.
Alan looked about him and knew the place. It was where the feast had
been held two months before, when the priests were poisoned and the
Bonsas chose the victims for sacrifice. Already it was prepared for the
great festival of to-morrow, when the Mungana should drown himself and
Alan be married to the Asika. There on the dais were the gold chairs in
which they were to sit, and green branches of trees mixed with curious
flags decked the vast amphitheatre beyond. Moreover, there was the broad
canal, and floating in the midst of it the hideous gold fetish, Big
Bonsa. The moon shone on its glaring, deathly eyes, its fish-like snout
and its huge, pale teeth. Alan looked at it and shivered, for the thing
was horrid and uncanny, and the utter loneliness in which it lay staring
up at the moon, seemed to accentuate the horror.
The Mungana noticed his fear and whispered:
"We must swim the water. If you have a god, white man, pray him to
protect you from Bonsa."
"Lead on," answered Alan, "I do not dread a foul fetish, only the look
of it. But is there no way round?"
The Mungana shook his head and began to enter the canal.
Pages:
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344