Gradually our eyes became accustomed to the light, and we found
that a pair of brown legs were moving slowly along the floor past our
spyhole. A body, gorgeously decorated in mats of green and crimson
parrot feathers, followed the legs, and then came a head that was hidden
behind a mask of sennet daubed thickly with coral lime and ochre till it
appeared a ghastly nightmare.
The horror moved upon its stomach, and, viewing it as we did through the
narrow cranny, it appeared as if the film of a biograph was being slowly
dragged before our eyes. Another pair of legs followed the masked head,
another body, and another mask that was even more fear-inspiring than
the first. And the procession continued. Three, four, five, and
six--each succeeding one being arrayed in a mask of more ghastly
appearance than those which had preceded him. The sixth was followed by
the first, who had wriggled clear around the circle of light thrown by
the lamp, and in perfect silence the infernal snaky circle moved
backward round and round, the faint light shining on bare legs, on
bodies from which the parrot mats were thrust aside by the contortions,
and upon the masks that were weirdly fantastic and Mephistophelian.
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