“Hirach, thou who art unshaken by emotion or desire, hear and give heed! Orondo was ever the craven tool of him who stands here in his defense. He sought more to obey the will of his master than the will of the gods. Once again I beseech thee, give his body to the fishes!” “No! no! no!” burst from the lips of the mourners, the priestesses, and the warrior-priests, augmented by the intercessors, too. Yermah stood with his hands clasped and head bowed low. His dejection and silence angered Rahula still more, because she instinctively felt that he was right, and that she could not provoke him into a show of resistance. She hated him for the sympathy he had unconsciously aroused. “Finally, I demand this body of thee, Hirach! “Bloody deeds shall follow thy refusal. Never canst thou make it right to bless this man, while Alcamayn’s shade is doomed to wander through myriad years because of him. I charge thee to weigh and consider thy decision!” Hirach, using the flail for a baton, waved for silence. Then the two intercessors, earth and water, arose and pointed to the left. Thus far the decision was against Orondo. The kneeling figures arose and joined the warrior-priests in supplication. The remaining intercessors, air and fire, stood and pointed to the right. With bated breath they waited for Hirach’s action. In an impressive silence he arose and pointed to the right. “Haille! Haille! Haille!” cried the people, in a spontaneous outburst, which a sense of decorum quickly quelled. “Let the heart of Orondo be given back to him. Let him go into the Hall of Mystery by the Right-Hand Path,” read Imos in a sonorous voice. As soon as the verdict was announced, the funeral cortége formed as it came, and filed out of the temple. Rahula and her followers departed to the left, with their arms crossed before their faces, and their heads drooping under the knowledge of defeat. * * * * * A granite sarcophagus was placed at the entrance of the long tunnel-like tomb, cut deep into the side of the mountain. Here was deposited all of the personal belongings of Orondo, sealed up in curious-shaped jars and baskets. After the body was placed in the tomb, these were laid around it, and the whole securely sealed. A never-dying perfume-lamp of wrought bronze was suspended over the head, which was laid to the west. The granite doors were hermetically closed, and Orondo was finally left to sleep with the justified. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX “DOWN WITH THE APOSTATE, YERMAH”—STRIFE IN TLAMCO “Thou knowest, Imos, how I execrate the memory of Akaza,” said Setos, as the two sat in conference, at the high-priest’s house, shortly after Orondo’s burial.