An ominous, rattling sound was heard, and a score of human skeletons dropped from above and stood upright upon the ground.
Then the dance began in earnest, the skeletons joining in, it seemed.
The girls struck up a chant in time with the music, which had again changed, and began gliding about, right and left, with their grewsome partners.
Lucky, the darky, whose nerves were not overstrong, fainted away, while the rest of the party felt an icy chill gliding down their backs.
Probably the least interested one in the party was the man who had been in the cave when our friends entered.
He gazed at the scene with a look of indifference on his face, and even smiled when the girls grasped the hideous relics of humanity about their fleshless waists and whirled them around.
Round and round spun the dancers, oftentimes nearly stumbling over the captives upon the floor.
Suddenly one of the fair dancers got tangled up with her “partner,” and stumbled headlong over Leo.
As she did so, the boy heard a metallic ring close beside him.
As soon as she arose to her feet and glided away, he saw a knife lying upon the ground.