Now of the beginning of my people I know nothing, for it is lost in the past.

But they worship an ancient stone statue fashioned like a dwarf, and to him they offer the blood of men.

Beneath the feet of the statue is a pool of water, and beyond the pool is a cave.

In that cave, White Man, he dwells whom they adore in effigy above, he, Jal, whose name is Terror." "Do you mean that a dwarf lives in the cave ?" asked Leonard.
"No, White Man, not a dwarf, but a holy crocodile which they name the Snake, the biggest crocodile in the whole world, and the oldest, for he has dwelt there from the beginning.

It is this Snake that devours the bodies of those who are offered to the Black One." "As I remarked before," said Leonard, "all this is very romantic and interesting, but I cannot see that there is much profit to be made out of it." "White Man, the lives of men are not the only things which the priests of the Children of the Mist offer to their god; they offer also such toys as _this_, White Man," and suddenly she unclosed her hand and exhibited to Leonard's astonished gaze a ruby, or what appeared to be a ruby, of such size and so lovely a colour, that his eyes were dazzled when he looked at it.