Upon one object, weird and horrible, our startled gaze became rivetted. Straight before us, at some little distance, there rose a great black rock to a height of, as far as I could judge, a thousand feet. Nearly half way up was a great wide ledge or platform larger than any of the market-places in the City in the Clouds, and upon this there had been fashioned from the solid rock a colossal representation of the vampire-bat, the device borne upon the banners of Mo. Its enormous wings, each fully five hundred feet from the body to tip, outstretched on either side and supported by gigantic pillars of rock carved to represent various grotesque and hideous figures of men and animals, formed great temples on either side of the body. The latter, however, attracted our attention more than did the wonderful wings, for as we stood aghast and amazed we discerned that the vast body of the colossus did not represent that of a bat, but the gigantic jaws were those of a crocodile. "Zomara!" gasped Omar. "See! It is the great god with the wings of a bat and the tail of a lion!" I looked and saw that far behind rose the tufted tail of the king of the forest. From the two great eyes of the gigantic reptile shone dazzling streams of white light, like the rays of a mariner's beacon, and everywhere twinkling yellow lights were moving about the face of the great rock, across the platform whereon the colossal figure rested, even to the distant summit. Suddenly, as we stood gazing open-mouthed in wonder, the roar of a hundred war-drums beaten somewhere in the vicinity of the enormous representation of the terrible deity of Mo rolled and echoed to the innermost recesses of the subterranean vault, and just as they had ceased we distinctly saw the giant jaws of the crocodile slowly open. From them belched forth great tongues of flame and thick stifling smoke that, beaten down by a draught from above, curled its poisonous fumes around us, causing us to cough violently. For fully a minute the great mouth remained open, when to our horror we saw a small knot of human figures approaching it. One loud piercing shriek reached us and at that instant we saw the figure of a man or woman--we were not close enough to discern which--flung by the others headlong into the open flaming mouth. Again the drums rolled, and the next second the jaws of Zomara closed with a loud crash that sent a shudder through us. "The sacrifice!" gasped Omar. "This, then, is one of the horrible customs that Goliba told us had been introduced by my mother, the Great White Queen!" "Horrible!" I exclaimed. "That fearful cry will haunt me to my dying day." "Let us return," said Kona. "We have witnessed enough, O Master." "No," Omar answered. "Rather let us see for ourselves the true extent of these terrible rites. Goliba, though, alas! he is lost for ever, intended that we should." "Very well," I said. "Lead us, and we will follow."