about midday
Here we conferred together , and realizing that we stood in great danger of our lives , determined , if any attempt should be made upon us , to sell them as dearly as we could -- Umslopogaas announcing his fixed intention of committing sacrilege on the person of Agon , the High Priest , by splitting his head with Inkosi-kaas . From where we stood we could perceive that an immense multitude were pouring into the temple , evidently in expectation of some unusual event , and I could not help fearing that we had to do with it . And here I may explain that every day , when the sunlight falls upon the central altar , and the trumpets sound , a burnt sacrifice is offered to the Sun , consisting generally of the carcase of a sheep or ox , or sometimes of fruit or corn . This event comes off about midday ; of course , not always exactly at that hour , but as Zu-Vendis is situated not far from the Line , although -- being so high above the sea it is very temperate -- midday and the falling of the sunlight on the altar were generally simultaneous . Today the sacrifice was to take place at about eight minutes past twelve . Just at twelve o'clock a priest appeared , and made a sign , and the officer of the guard signified to us that we were expected to advance , which we did with the best grace that we could muster , all except Alphonse , whose irrepressible teeth instantly began to chatter . In a few seconds we were out of the court and looking at a vast sea of human faces stretching away to the farthest limits of the great circle , all straining to catch a glimpse of the mysterious strangers who had committed sacrilege ; the first strangers , mind you , who , to the knowledge of the multitude , had ever set foot in Zu-Vendis since such time that the memory of man runneth not to the contrary .