They stood close together in a great circle all around the rim of a massive low tower--waiting; stood as motionless as sculptured ornaments, and indeed almost deceived one into the belief that that was what they were.
Presently there was a slight stir among the score of persons present, and all moved reverently out of the path and ceased from talking.

A funeral procession entered the great gate, marching two and two, and moved silently by, toward the Tower.

The corpse lay in a shallow shell, and was under cover of a white cloth, but was otherwise naked.

The bearers of the body were separated by an interval of thirty feet from the mourners.

They, and also the mourners, were draped all in pure white, and each couple of mourners was figuratively bound together by a piece of white rope or a handkerchief--though they merely held the ends of it in their hands.