The bodies of the dancers, or at least the parts that we could see, became tense and rigid.  A soft hiss went round the circle, and once again the wriggling movement started.  But this time the six went forward instead of backward.  They broke out of the circular formation, and in a long glistening line moved up the cavern toward the three approaching.  The lamp halted, then it was raised high in the air as the crawling half dozen approached, and Holman gave a curious little gurgle as the light fell upon the three newcomers.  Wrapped in parrot feathers and a white mask, the lamp bearer stood revealed as Soma.  Immediately behind him was a tall white man in the same outlandish garb, while the last of the three, barearmed and barelegged, and wearing an immense headdress of plumes, was Leith!

The snaky six circled the three at a respectful distance, then, again breaking into a single file formation, they turned toward the end of the cave nearest our spyhole, and behind the length of creeping bodies, Soma, the tall white who had only one eye, and Leith came slowly.

Holman’s breath came faster as the procession approached.  The exhibition chilled us.  There was a devilish suggestiveness in the proceeding.  In some indescribable manner it brought up mental pictures that were nauseating, and it required something of an effort to watch the performance.  The mystery of the silent night, the thoughts of the danger which threatened the two girls, and the glimpses of the astounding performance within the cavern brought a dazed mental condition that made us doubt our sanity.

I felt Holman’s hand reach out across my shoulder as the procession moved down upon us, and instinctively I understood the movement.  The cold barrel of a revolver had slipped by my face, and I gripped his wrist and forced the hand downward.  The manner in which Soma and the one-eyed man walked in front of the big brute made it impossible to shoot with telling effect, and Leith was the person we desired to kill at that moment.  The others seemed to be but creatures of his will, and he stood up in our minds as a devil whose existence was a menace to everything that was pure and clean.

The three newcomers moved to the side of the cavern, so that nothing except their bare feet were visible, and backward and forward in front of those feet moved the human serpents with a regularity that was stupefying.  In an unbroken line they would move forward, flatten themselves upon the floor, then, with a unanimity that was remarkable, they would wriggle backward, to repeat the same movement over again.

Holman pulled me away at last, and we retired to a point that made it possible for us to converse in low whispers without being heard.

“What will we do?” he gasped.  “I can’t stay there any longer!  I want to get inside to the devil!  I don’t want to shoot him; I want to throttle him with my two hands!”

“But the entrance to the cavern is from somewhere on the other side of the hill,” I remonstrated, as the young fellow raved about our helplessness.