With a vehemence that caused the crowd to shiver, he gave a command, and in a moment three men were brought forward, almost in a state of collapse with terror written in their countenances. They were the unfortunate guards, as the boys quickly saw.
They were unable to answer the indictment of the Chief, because the escape had been as much of a surprise to them as to the Chief. Uraso and Muro were quick to recognize the situation, and they informed John of the progress of the conversation.
The negligent guards had been condemned to take the places of the Korinos, as sacrifices. The rites demanded some victims, and the boys now saw that the escape of the Korinos would not avoid the carrying out of the bloody rites.
The new, victims-to-be were firmly bound, and placed in the center of the crowd, and, strangely enough, it was now noticed that the people expressed the same degree of hatred to the poor unfortunates that they had manifested toward the Korinos an hour before.
The Chief was now at the head of the procession, which, instead of going to the north, passed alongside the slight elevation that led north of the grove, and toward the high elevation which the boys had noticed the day before.
The march was but a short one, and when the upper level was reached the boys were astounded to see that beyond, and next to the hill, on the north, was an open space, the floor of which was of solid rock. This space covered nearly an acre, and near the center was a flat rocky table, fully ten feet in[p. 99] diameter and about four feet high, with a huge boulder in the center of the table.
The Chief and the victims marched directly to the stone table, the executioner tramping with a measured tread immediately ahead of the victims. The people did not go near the rocky shelf, but circled about at a respectful distance.