The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-08-25

girl, who could not have been over six
teen years Of age. She had comely,
nut-brown face, with dark. wavy clus-
tiers Of hair tumbling over her forehead
and reaching down to her waist. With q
cool, if not openly disdainful look, she
gazed 18th exalted dignity on the sur
rounding group, with never a waver Of
the stole composure of her attitude.
At last the fearful moment arrived.
One of the old men wasa seized and
stretched on sort of stone altar raised
few feet above the floor Of the plate
form. He fully realized that his last
hour hada acome. for his stoicism van
ished, and he struggled in impotent fear
and fury to escape from the grasp of his
captors, giving vent to shrek after
shrek, until weak and exhausted he fell
into stupor, with only spasmodic eff
fcrts attempting to thow off the estrain-
ing hands of the priests. Four of the
minor priests held the family struggling
body down, while from the gloomy niche
stalked forth The chief sacrificial priest.
his hand holding long. glistening knife
having a broad blade nearly six inches
wide.
Once, twice, thrice he abased himself
to the ground before the unresponsive
image, and then turning around like
beast ready to leap on its sleeping prey,
with his small rat-llke eyes glistening
with overpoweing fascination, he rushed
towards the postate form. A fash Of
light, as of falling meteor. and the
keen blade sank to the hilt in the flesh
of the victim with a soft, soothing purr
like firm steel gliding over velvet, while
the blood spurted forth in little fountains
Of spray. Again the cleaning and drip
ping blade flashed in the air again 1t des-
cended in a nurderous sweep; yet again
and again, five times in all, until the
very air reeked with odor of blood.
Three times did the woEshipers on the
floor raise and abuse themselves and then
as quickly as a lightniing's flash the mi
nor piests seized the lifeless corpse and
held 1t in the air. For a moment 1t silh-
ouetted against the ftful glare of the
fire in long, CHASTITY shadow, and then.
shot through space, the red flames leap
ed forward in eager ecstacy to receive
their prey.
With hardly a momnts intermisslon the
next Victim was hurried forward. The
whole assemblage seemd spell bound. and
it was more than civilized manhood could
withstand. 1 grasped Buttons hani,
while the other instinctively sought for
my revolver. We tried to aise, to call
out, to fling ourselves on the murderous
rabble lying there in sangulnary apathy
before our eyes, but our nerves were
paralized into Inactivity; we were power
less. held speechless and fascinated, as a
serpent holds its prey, by some lrresis-
uble spell. For brief space of time the
faaH body of the girl lay PROSTATE on
the floor before the grotesque and stony
image above-a Spectacle of blind. con-
fiding. whole-souled devotion. which
would put a christian martyr to shame;
and then, before we could realize the full
import Of the moment, she had deliber-
ately jumped into the waiting flames.
One long despairing shrek and all was
over.
We sank back stunned and overpow-
cred. unable to move or breathe, par
alyzed by the horrible nightmare through
which we had just passed. the sickening
odor of burning flesh permeating THE at
mosphere and making our position sim
ply unbearable. In a moment, hardly be-
fore the hideous specific was finished. the
very beings who but one short moment
before had been gazing on untold suf-
fering and agony were stalking forth
happy and contented, while the gloomy
vault Of the cave served as a tomb OF
their murdered victims.