But Swami Sarasvati waved them back, and turning to Bootea tendered
her, with bowed head, the _pan supari_ (betel nut in a leaf) as an
admonition that the ceremony had ceased, and there was nothing left but
the sacrifice.

As the girl with firm step turned to the path that led up through shrub
and jungle growth to the ledge where fluttered the white flag, a tumult
of approbation went up from the multitude at her brave devotion. Then
a solemn hush enwrapped the bowl of the hills, and the eyes of the
thousands were fixed upon the jutting shelf of rock.

A dirge-like cadence, a mighty gasp of, "Ah, Kuda!" sounded as a slim
figure, white robed, like a wraith, appeared on the ledge, and from her
hand whirled down to the rocks below a cocoanut, cast in sacrifice;
next a hand-mirror, its glass shimmering flickers of gold from the
sunlight.

For five seconds the white-clothed figure disappeared in the shrouding
bushes; men held their breath, and women gasped and clutched at their
throats as if they choked.

Then they saw her again, arms high held as though she reached for God.
And as the white-draped, slender form came hurtling through the air
women swooned and men closed their eyes and shuddered.

An Englishman, clothed as a Hindu, lay prone on his face on the
hillside sobbing, the dry leaves drinking in his tears, cursing himself
for a sin that was not his.