back and slept or made pretence to sleep the day passed visited them as and told them that the excitement grew in the city indeed the of the cold weather was driving the people into a state of superstitious fury that must soon express itself in violence of one form or another and the priests were doing everything in their power to the trouble no immediate danger was to be apprehended however after and went out into the to inspect the weather according to their custom there was no sign of a change the wind blew as bitterly as ever from the mountains the sky was and the stars seemed far off and cold will it never break said with a sigh and te entered the palace followed by having solemnly to keep a strict c the people of the mist h guard over soil they wrapped themselves up in the h blankets id order to get some rest which both of h needed sadly had retired already laying h ain tips ain da i of und the b man h ain i needed sadly had retired already laying down to sleep immediately on the other side of the curtain foe she feared to be alone indeed they could see the tips of her fingers beneath the bottom of the curtain very they were asleep for even terror must yield s last to the necessities of rest aiid a dense silence over the palace broken only by the tramp of the without once opened bis eyes hearing something move and instantly stretched out hand to assure himself of s safety she was there for in her sleep her fingers closed instinctively upon his own then he turned round and saw what bad disturbed him in the doorway of chamber stood the bride of the snake a lighted in one hand and a in the other and very that handsome young woman with her noble by the glare of the light wliat is the matter said it is all right answered the old woman here is as safe as the stone statue yonder and quite as quiet brings me some water that is all i bade her do so because of the fire that inside me and the pain in my head fear i do not drink beer when i am on guard beer or water i wish you would keep your wife at distance answered come tell her to be off then he looked at his watch the hands of which he could just distinguish by the distant glare of the torch and went to sleep again this took place at ten past eleven when ha awoke again was breaking and was calling to him in a loud hoarse voice he said come here jumped up and ran to him to find the dwarf his feet and staring at the wall against which had been sitting she was gone but there on the floor lay the ropes with which she had been tied sprang at and seized him by the shoulders wretched man i he cried you have been sleeping and now she has escaped and we are lost yes i have been sleeping kill me if you for i deserve it and yet never was t more father and daughter awake in my life until i drank that water i am not wont to sleep on guard said that wife of yours has you � it may be so at least the woman has gone and say whither has she gone to her father answered chapter father and daughter while and spoke thus in their amazement had they but known it a still more interesting conversation was being carried on some three hundred yards away its scene was a secret chamber in the thickness of the temple wall and the consisted of the high priest s servant and wife of the snake was an early perhaps because his conscience would not allow him to sleep or because on this occasion he had business of importance to attend to at any rate on the morning in question before the break of dawn he was seated in his little room alone musing and indeed his thoughts gave him much food for reflection as has been said he was a very aged man and whatever may have been his faults at least he was earnestly desirous of carrying on the worship of the gods according to the strict letter of the customs which had descended to him from his forefathers and which himself he had followed all his life in truth from long consideration of them their attributes and the traditions concerning them had come to believe in the actual existence of these gods although the belief was a qualified one and somewhat half hearted or to put it less strongly he had never allowed his mind to entertain active doubt of the spiritual beings whose earthly worship was so powerful a in his own material rule and prosperity and in that of his class in its issues this half faith of his had been sufficiently real to induce him to accept the people of the mist arrived in and when i land it had been that they should arrive thus � � that was a fact and their outward appearance exactly fitted y detail of the prophecy � that was another fact and these two facts together seemed to point to a conclusion so m irresistible that shrewd and experienced as he waa was unable to set it down to mere coincidence in the first rush of bis religious enthusiasm he had a hearty welcome to the of the whom for some eighty years he had worshipped as powers spiritual but though pious zeal had much to do with this action as informed it was not devoid of motives he desired the glory of being the o the gods he desired also the of the which his had shaken that must 