Human sacrifice was practised even by some who were well advanced, like the Aztecs and Peruvians." "Well, sir, this Bakairi tribe believed that its god demanded a sacrifice yearly, and their priests taught them that a certain one of their number had been sent by their god for this sacrifice each year; that only by butchering this particular member of the tribe and--incredible as it sounds--eating his body and drinking his blood, could they avert drouth and pestilence and secure favours for the year to come.

I remember the historian intimated that it were well not to incur the displeasure of any priest; that one doing this might find it followed by an unpleasant circumstance when the time came for the priests to designate the next yearly sacrifice." "Curious, indeed, and most revolting," assented the old man, laying down his paper.

"You _are_ feeling more cheerful, aren't you--and you look so much brighter.

Ah, what a mercy of God's you were spared to me!--you know you became my walking-stick when you were a very little boy--I could hardly go far without you now, my son." "Yes, sir--thank you--I've just been recalling some of the older religions--Nancy and I had quite a talk about the old Christian faith." "I'm glad indeed.

I had sometimes been led to suspect that Nancy was the least bit--well, frivolous--but I am an old man, and doubtless the things that seem best to me are those I see afar off, their colour subdued through the years." "Nancy wasn't a bit frivolous this morning--on the contrary, she seemed for some reason to consider me the frivolous one.