The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1901-12-12
Copyright. by ROBERT BosSEE's SoS
CHAPTER XVIII.
CONTINUED.

ssThat is good. Pele will bid Kan.
mai to accept you graciously. Make
your offering here"
The old rogue led me to niche ID
The rocky wall. 1t was evidently 6
uatural indentation. [ placed few
cigars in it and bowed to Pele. l no.
ticed that Nimolau wore smile OF
satisfaction, whether Pele cared fo1
the Offering or not.
wondered how far the farcical side
of this mystery extended. When
had penetrated further. I learned thai
Nimolau had monopoly OF the sense
Of Ihumor existing in the island o,
Lanai. He worked the Temple OF tho
Glistening Rock for his own purposes,
and was, in h., small way, black.
mailer. But the realities 1 saw furth'
er on were horrible enough.
'The priestess Kaumai is not alone,
said Nimolau. "She has with her ten
high priests of Pele, who guard he1
from her enemies, ard who do her
bidding. Then there are a hundred
priests who pray to Pele all the time.
Ten of them at time, then ten more,
and so on"
"What is that for?" I asked.
sPele demands it. When you reach
the presence of Kaumai, you will be
struck speechless by her great beauty,
but you must not allow her to notice
this. You must kneel and bow your
head. The high-priests are ready to
slay any one not of themselves who
dares look upon her face in any spirit
but that of awe and worship. They
are very fierce, these priests, and you
must be careful that you do not arouse
them before they know you we'll. You
will be compelled to prove your talte
to Pele, after which they will regard
you as they do the other priests. Come,
let us 60 to Kaumai.
Nimolau made some mysterious move.
ments on the wall with his hands and
evidently pressed spring. A door
opened leading into dark passage.
He bade me follow him. Just inside
the passage was lantern. This he
lighted and started on before me. All
could see was the lantern swinging
along ahead of me. The floor OF the
passage was smooth, so I had no diff
Guilty in following. The passage must
have been q long one. I judged that
we were ct least an hour going through
it.
Suddenly T saw daylight ahead.
Nimolau set his lantern down, blowing
out the light. Emerging from the
mouth of the passage, I found that we
were at the base of mountain, which,
Judging from its appearance and the
surrounding country, had once been
an active volcano. The formation OF
the country all around was jagged and
rough. High lodges of lava-rock formed
into fantastic shapes, Caves, mounds
and deep crevices made the place a
splendid hiding place for smugglers,
pirates and other outlaws.
"We ascend" said Nimolau, begin
ming to Chamber up the side OF the
mountain.
"This is Kapatoli?" I said.
eyes"
The mountain was sparsefy covered
with growth of trees and bushes.
These assisted me in my ascent. The
stratum of soil OF the lava was not
deep. The volcano had been silent a
great many years. The further up we
got, the less soil there was and the less
vegetable growth.
[ was weary when we reached the
top, but Nimolau did not seem to feel
the exertion.
ooh, your mask is crooked" he
said. "The high-priests would slay
You if your mask was crooked. ,"
'aThen had better straigEten it, !"
I said. "These high-priests are dang
erous."
"Be careful what you say. Gomez!
He led me down steep, painless
plain of lava. It was easy to go down
Itwould be difficult matter to go up.
We were now in the c:ater of the
Volcano.
We stood on a ledge of rock, per.
haps a hundred feet wide. This ex'
tended all the way round the mouth
of the crater. On one side was the
top of the mountain, al even wall
completely surrounding US, for we had
descended probably hundred feet
into the crater.
On the other side, and occupying
the center of the mountain, was q
lake. Not lake of water, but a lake
of molten lava. Now and then a
rumbling noise could be heard.
'tHow long has the lake been hot|'
T asked Nimclau.