“I was delayed in spite of myself until nearly sundown, and meanwhile Alicia Harman waited in my office, pacing the floor with ill-concealed impatience.  Before starting I ventured one more remonstrance, for I was filled with misgivings, and the more I saw of this girl the more fantastic and unnatural this affair seemed.  But the unbridled impulses of her parents were bearing fruit, and no one could say her nay.  She afforded the most illuminating study in heredity that I have ever witnessed.

“We didn’t say much during our fifteen-mile drive, for I was worried and Alicia was oddly torn between apprehension and exultation.  We had left the French maid behind.  I don’t know that any woman ever went to her lover under stranger circumstances or in greater perturbation of spirit than did this girl, behind whom lay a generation of selfishness and unrestraint.

“It was well along in the evening when we came over the ridge and saw the encampment below us.  You can imagine the fairy picture it made with its myriad of winking fires, with the soft effulgence of a thousand glowing tents, and with the wonderful magic of the night over it all.  As we drew nearer, the unusual sounds of a strange merrymaking came to us—­the soft thudding of drums, the weird melody of the dances, the stir and the confusion of crowded animal life.  In the daylight it would have been sufficiently picturesque, but under the wizard hand of the darkness it became ten times more so.

“When I finally tied my horses and led the girl into the heart of it I think she became a bit frightened, for these Indians were the Sioux of a bygone day.  They were barbaric in dress and in demeanor.

“I guided her through the tangle of tepees, through glaring fire-lit circles and through black voids where we stumbled and had to feel our way.  We were jostled and elbowed by fierce warriors and by sullen squaws.  At every group I asked for Running Elk, but he was merely one of five thousand and nobody knew his whereabouts.

“The people have ever been jealous of their customs, and as a result we were frequently greeted by cold looks and sudden silences.  Recognizing this open resentment, my companion let down a thick automobile veil which effectually hid her face.  Her dust-coat was long and loose and served further to conceal her identity.

“At one time we came upon a sight I would gladly have spared her—­the spectacle of some wrinkled hags strangling a dog by the light of a fire.  The girl at my side stifled a cry at the apparition.

“‘What are they doing?’ she gasped.

“‘Preparing the feast,’ I told her.

“‘Do they—­really—­’

“‘They do,’ said I.  ‘Come!’ I tried to force her onward, but she would not stir until the sacrifice had been dragged to the flames, where other carcasses were singeing among the pots and kettles.  From every side came the smell of cooking meat, mingled with the odor of burning hair and flesh.  I could hear Miss Harman panting as we went on.