I was taken to the middle of the half-circle, and Shalah motioned me to dismount, while a stripling led off the horses.

My legs gave under me, for they were still very feeble, and I sat hunkered up on the sward like the others.

I looked for Shalah and Onotawah, but they had disappeared, and I was left alone among those lines of dark, unknown faces.
I waited with an awe on my spirits against which I struggled in vain.
The silence of so vast a multitude, the sputtering torches, lighting the wild amphitheatre of the hills, the strange clearing with its altar, the mystery of the immense dusky sky, and the memory of what I had already endured--all weighed on me with the sense of impending doom.

I summoned all my fortitude to my aid.

I told myself that Ringan believed in me, and that I had the assurance that God would not see me cast down.