Only Leonard thought that they smiled grimly, and a horrible fear struck his heart like a breath of ice.

What if they waited a signal to cast him down?
It might well be so.

Already he had seen enough of their rites to enable him to guess that theirs was a religion of blood and human sacrifice.
He shivered, and again turned faint, so faint indeed that he did not dare to keep his feet, but sank into a sitting posture, resting his back against the stone of the idol's thumb..