These preparations completed, the priests from the Temple of the Snakes put in their appearance. They were a hideous lot, clothed in long mantles of a drab color, and wore black masks over their faces. Each one carried a tuft of red feathers in his hand. The column, headed by six of its number who beat drums and sang in a weird jargon, marched to the Inca’s dais and halted. The drum-beats ceased and the priests prostrated themselves on the ground, rising after a moment and forming a semicircle in front of the doomed men. One of the leaders produced two bags from under his cloak; he untied the string of one of them and shook its contents on the ground. It was a great snake, drawn up in a mass of tight coils, and hissed defiantly at the men who stood around it. The two saw at once that it was a bushmaster, the deadliest and most feared of all South American serpents. But what a monster it was! It could have been no less than ten feet long. As it raised its head, slowly, the deep orange color of its back, marked with a regular pattern of broad, black X’s, glistened with a metallic lustre in the sunlight. Before the reptile could get its bearings to dart away several of the priests pounced upon it and seized it in their hands, for it was harmless so far, its arrow-shaped head having been covered with a muzzle of fine, gold wires. A stout cord was fastened around its neck, and with this it was securely tied at Ted’s feet, the priests stretching out the snake and allowing sufficient cord so that it could strike to within less than an inch of the man. [Illustration: It was a bushmaster, the deadliest and the most feared of all South American snakes] The second bag was now opened and its occupant, exactly like that of the first, bound in front of Stanley. Then two of the priests pinned the heads of the snakes to the ground with long, forked sticks, while others removed the wires that held the death-dealing jaws together. This accomplished, the entire company performed a wild, uncanny dance, howling and rushing past the supposedly helpless men and the serpents. As they passed each stooped and struck the reptiles a blow with his tuft of feathers, until they had been aroused to a mad frenzy. After that the priests again marched up to the Inca’s sedan, fell flat on their faces as before, and took up their station in the front ranks of the onlookers.