Nor did it stop there, since at length the Asika rose from her chair upon the dais and joined in the performance with the Mungana her husband.

Even Jeekie began to prance and shout behind, so that at last Alan and the Ogula alone remained still and silent in the midst of a scene and a noise which might have been that of hell let loose.
Leaving go of her husband, the Asika bounded up to Alan and tried to drag him from his chair, thrusting her gold mask against his mask.

He refused to move and after a while she left him and returned to Mungana.
Louder and louder brayed the music and beat the drums, wilder and wilder grew the shrieks.

Individuals fell exhausted and were thrown into the water where they sank or floated away on the slow moving stream, as part of some inexplicable play that was being enacted.
Then suddenly the Asika stood still and threw up her arms and they fell upon their faces and lay as though they were dead.

A third time she threw up her arms and they rose and remained so silent that the only sound to be heard was that of their thick breathing.