Indeed he would have grasped it had he not met with foul play, for the Asika, seeing that he was about to succeed, lifted it an inch or two, so that he also missed and with a groan joined the band of the defeated.

Next appeared a fourth priest, even more horribly arrayed than those before him, but Alan noticed that his mask was of the lightest, and that his garments consisted chiefly of paint, the main idea of his make-up being that of a skeleton.

He was a thin active fellow, and all the watching thousands greeted him with a shout.

For a few seconds he stood back gazing at the mask as a wolf might at an unapproachable bone.

Then suddenly he ran forward and sprang into the air.