Part 47 (1/2)

”Ha!” said Otter to himself, ”thus far my Spirit has been with me, and here I could lie for hours and never be seen But there is still the Snake to contend with,” and hastily he seized the weapon that he had constructed out of the two knives, and unwound a portion of the cord that was fast about his ain he looked across the surface of the waters Some ten fathoms from him, in the exact centre of the whirlpool, the body of the priest was still visible, for the vortex bore it round and round, but of Francisco there was nothing to be seen Only thirty feet above hies of the pool and gazing at the priest as he was tossed about like a straw in an eddy

”Now, if he is still there and awake,” thought Otter, ”surely the father of crocodiles will take this bait; therefore I shall do best to be still awhile and see what happens”

As he reflected thus a louder shout than any he had heard before reached his ears from the multitude in the temple above him, so tumultuous a shout indeed, that for a few moments even the turmoil of the waters was lost in it

”Nohat chances up there, I wonder?” thought Otter again Then his attention was diverted in a somewhat unpleasant fashi+on

This was the cause of that shout: a miracle, or what the People of the Mist took to be a miracle, had come about; for suddenly, for the first tied to red

Blood-red was the snow upon the mountain, and lo! its peaks were turned to fire

For a while all those itnessed this phenohast, then there arose that babel of voices which had reached the ears of Otter as he lurked under the bank of rock

”The Gods have been sacrificed unjustly,” yelled the people ”They are true Gods; see, the dawn is red!”

The situation was curious and h priest for more than fifty years, proved himself equal to it

”This is a th been restored; ”for no such thing is told of in our history as that a white dawn upon the mountain should turn to red Yet, O People of the Mist, those e thought Gods have not been offered up wrongfully Nay, this is the n: now are the true Gods, Aca and Jal, appeased, because those who dared to usurp their power have gone down to dooht has coain the tu and some that But no action was taken, for Nam's excuse was ready and plausible, and the minds of men were confused So the assembly broke up in disorder; only the priests and asthees of the pool to see what happened in its depths

Meanwhile Otter had seen that which caused hi above hi his eyes to travel round the circumference of the rocky wall, he saw the mouth of a circular hole, situated immediately under the base of the idol, which e of this hole stood about six inches above the level of the pool, and water ran out of it in a thin strea, appeared that huge and ungainly reptile which was the real object of the worshi+p of the People of the Mist

Great as were its length and bulk, the dwarf saw it but for a few moments, so sere its movements; then the creature vanished into the deep waters, to reappear presently by the side of the dead priest, as now beginning to sink Its horrible head rose upon the waters as on that night when the woe jaws, and, seizing the body of the man across the middle, it disappeared beneath the foam Otter watched the mouth of the hole, and not in vain; for before he could have counted ten theits prey into the cave

Now once more the dwarf felt afraid, for the Snake, or rather the crocodile, at close quarters was far ination had portrayed Keeping his place beneath the ledge, which, except for the coldness of the water, he found hiue or difficulty, Otter searched the walls of the pool, seeking for some possible avenue of escape, since his ardour for personal conflict with this reptile had evaporated But search as he would he could find nothing; the walls were full thirty feet high, and sloped inwards, like the sides of an inverted funnel Wherever the exits froht be, they were invisible; also, notwithstanding his strength and skill, Otter did not dare to swi he noticed, indeed: immediately above the entrance to the crocodile's den, and some twenty feet from the level of the water, two holes were pierced in the rock, six feet or so apart, eachabout twelve inches square But these holes were not to be reached, and even if reached they were too sht noto nip hier he would become paralyzed by it, for it was fed from the ice and snow above Therefore, it would see to do--to face the Water Dweller in his lair To this, then, Otterand a doubtful heart

CHAPTER xxxII

HOW OTTER FOUGHT THE WATER DWELLER

Keeping hie of the rock-bank, and holding his double-bladed knife ready in one hand, Otter swam to the mouth of the Snake's den As he approached it he perceived by the great upward force of the water that the real body of the stream entered the pool fro but a supplementary exit, which doubtless the river followed in times of flood

Otter reached the reat difficulty, and, watching his chance, he lifted hih it quickly, for he did not desire to be seen by those ere gathered above Nor indeed was he seen, for his red head-dress and the goat-skin cloak had been washed away or cast off in the pool, and in that light his black body ainst the black rock beneath

Noas inside the hole, and found hirated rock, brought down by the waters The glooht of the white dahich had turned to red, was gathering swiftly on the surface of the pool without as the mist melted, and thence was reflected into the tunnel So it caift, not unco short of absolute darkness, was able to s with tolerable accuracy The place in a corner of which he squatted was a cave of no great height or width, hollowed in the solid rock by the force of water, as sh it had been hewn by the hand of man: in short, an enormous natural drain-pipe, but constructed of stone instead of earthenware

In the bottom of this drain trickled a stream of water nowhere more than six inches in depth, on either side of which, for ten feet or round small How far the cave stretched of course he could not see, nor as yet could he discover the whereabouts of its hideous occupant, though traces of its presence were plentiful, for the sandy floor was e footprints, and the air reeked with an aboone to?” thought Otter; ”heof him Perhaps he lives further up the cave”; and he crept a pace or two forward and again peered into the gloom

Now he perceived what had hitherto escaped hiht yards froment of stone rose fro on the hither side a sloping plane that connected its su of so rock, had resisted the wear of the rushi+ng river; the top of it, as was shown by the high-waterabove the level of the torrent, which, although it was now represented only by a rivulet, evidently at certain seasons of the year poured doith great force and voluht sleep,” reflected Otter, creeping a little further forward and staring at the ular-shaped object that was poised on the top of the sloping plane, and on so be another stone,” thought Otter again, ”how comes it that it does not slip into the water as it should do, and what is that upon which it rests?” and he took a step to one side to prevent his body froht that momentarily shone clearer and pierced the darkness of the cave to a greater distance