“Silence!” came the command. “And for that you must be punctured again.”
This time Bob grimly tightened his lips and said nothing.
The initiates suddenly felt a sensation as though a sharp knife had been drawn across their arms, and a voice said:
“Hold a basin. They are flowing well.”
The three chums might have imagined that they really had been cut, but they knew something of initiations, and they realized that a piece of ice drawn over the skin may feel like a knife, while water dripping into a basin has the same sound as blood. So they were not at all alarmed.
“They are standing the blood-test well,” said a solemn voice. “And now for the test by fire.”
“That may not be so nice,” mused Jerry. “I hope they don’t scorch us too much.”
Blindfolded they were led onward. They could feel an increase of temperature, and they heard the roaring of flames.
“Are the irons hot, Keeper of the Sacred Fire?” a voice asked.