The wizard

UC-NRI

H. RIDER HAGGARD

•FROM -THE -LIBRARY- OF-
A. W. Ryder

BY THE SAME AUTHOR.

CETYWAYO AND HIS WHITE NEIGHBOURS.

DAWN.

THE WITCH'S HEAD.

KING SOLOMON'S MINES.

SHE.

JESS.

ALLAN QUATERMAIN.

MAIWA'S REVENGE.

MR. MEESON'S WILL.

COLONEL QUARITCH, V.C.

CLEOPATRA.

ALLAN'S WIFE.

BEATRICE.

ERIC BRIGHTEYES.

NADA THE LILY.

MONTEZUMA'S DAUGHTER.

THE PEOPLE OF THE MIST.

JOAN HASTE.

HEART OF THE WORLD.

(In collaboration with Andrew Lang)
THE WORLD'S DESIRE.

THE WIZARD

THE WIZARD

BY

H. RIDER HAGGARD

/

AUTHOR OF
"SHE," "ALLAN QUATERMAIN," "KING SOLOMON'S MINES"

BRISTOL

J. W. ARROWSMITH LTD., QUAY STREET

LONDON
SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT & COMPANY 'LIMITED

All rights reserved

First published in 1896,

SJebfcatfon.

To the Memory of the Child

*

NADA BURNHAM,

who " bound all to her " and, while her
father cut his way through the hordes
of the Ingobo Regiment, perished of
the hardships of war at Buluwayo on
May igth, 1896, / dedicate this tale
of faith triumphant over savagery and
death.

H. RIDER HAGGARD.

DlTCHINGHAM,

6th July, 1896.

CONTENTS

Chap. Page

I. THE DEPUTATION .... 9

II. THOMAS OWEN ..... 17

III. THE TEMPTATION . . . . 23

IV. THE VISION ..... 34
V. THE FEAST OF THE FIRST-FRUITS . 48

VI. THE DRINKING OF THE CUP . . 6 1

VII. THE RECOVERY OF THE KING . . 70

VIII. THE FIRST TRIAL BY FIRE ... 82

IX. THE CRISIS. . . . . -94

X. THE SECOND TRIAL BY FIRE . . 105

XI. THE WISDOM OF THE DEAD . . Il6

XII. THE MESSAGE OF HOKOSA . . .134

XIII. THE BASKET OF FRUIT . . . 143

XIV. THE EATING OF THE FRUIT . . . 155
XV. NOMA COMES TO HAFELA . . . l66

XVI. THE REPENTANCE OF HOKOSA . . 176

XVII. THE LOOSING OF NOMA . . . 185

XVIII. THE PASSING OF OWEN . . . 196

XIX. THE FALL OF THE GREAT PLACE . . 206

XX. NOMA SETS A SNARE .... 2l6

XXI. HOKOSA IS LIFTED UP . . 227

XXII. THE VICTORY OF THE CROSS , , 239

THE WIZARD

CHAPTER I

THE DEPUTATION

the age of miracle gone by, or is it still possible
to the Voice of Faith calling aloud upon the earth
to wring from the dumb heavens an audible answer
to its prayer ? Does the promise uttered by the
Master of mankind upon the eve of the end — " Whoso
that believeth on Me, the works that I do he shall
do also . . . and whatsoever ye shall ask in My
name, that will I do " — still hold good to such as
do ask and do believe ?

Let those who study the history of the Rev.
Thomas Owen, and of that strange man who carried
on and completed, his work, answer this question
according to their judgment.

,The time was a Sunday afternoon in summer,

and the place a church in the Midland counties.

It was a beautiful church, ancient and spacious ;

moreover, it had recently been restored at great

9

10 THE WIZARD

cost. Seven or eight hundred -people could have
found sittings in it, and doubtless they had done
so when Busscombe was a large manufacturing
town, before the failure of the coal supply and
other causes drove away its trade. Now it was
much what it had been in the time of the Normans,
a little agricultural village with a population of
three hundred souls. Out of this population,
including the choir boys, exactly thirty-nine had
elected to attend church on this particular Sunday ;
and of these, three were fast asleep and four were
dozing. The Rev. Thomas Owen counted them
from his seat in the chancel, for another clergyman
was preaching; and, as he counted, bitterness and
disappointment took hold of him. The preacher was
a " Deputation," sent by one of the large missionary
societies to arouse the indifferent to a sense
of their duty tQwards * their unconverted black
brethren in Africa, and incidentally to collect cash
to be spent in the conversion of the said brethren.
The Rev. Thomas Owen had himself suggested
the visit of the Deputation and laboured hard to
secure him a good audience. But the beauty of the
weather, or the terror of the inevitable subscription,
had prevailed against him. Hence his disappoint-
ment. •

" Well," he thought, with a sigh, " I have done
my best, and I must make it up out of my own
pocket."

Then he settled himself to listen to the sermon.

The preacher was a battered-looking individual

THE DEPUTATION 11

of between fifty and sixty years of age, gaunt with
recent sickness, patient and unimaginative in aspect.
He preached extemporarily, with the aid of notes ;
and it cannot be said that his discourse was re-
markable for interest, at any rate in its beginning.
Doubtless the sparse congregation, so prone t©
slumber, discouraged him ; for offering exhortations
to "empty benches is but weary work. Indeed,
he was meditating the advisability of bringing
his argument to an abrupt conclusion when, chancing
to glance round, he became aware that he had
at least one sympathetic listener, his host, the
Rev. Thomas Owen. From that moment the
sermon improved by degrees, till at length it reached
a really high level of excellence. Ceasing from
rhetoric, the preacher began to tell of his own
experiences and sufferings in the Cause amongst
savage tribes ; for he himself was a missionary of
many years' standing. He told how once he and
a companion had been sent to a nation, who named
themselves the Sons of Fire because their god
was the lightning, if indeed they could be said to
boast any gods other than the spear and the
King. In simple language he narrated his terrible
adventures among these savages, the murder of his
companion by command of the Council of Wizards,
and his own flight for his life, a tale so interesting
and vivid that even the bucolic sleepers awakened
and listened open-mouthed.,

" But this is by the way," he went on ; " for my
Society does not ask you to subscribe towards the

12 THE WIZARD

conversion of the Children of Fire. Until that
people is conquered, which very likely will not be
for generations, seeing that they live in .Central
Africa, occupying a territory that white men do
not desire, no missionary will dare again to visit
them."

At this moment something caused him to look a
second time at Thomas Owen. He was leaning
foVward in his place listening eagerly, and a strange
light filled the large, dark eyes that shone in the
pallor of his delicate and nervous face.

" There is a man who would dare, if he were put
to it," thought the Deputation to himself. Then
he ended his sermon.

That evening the two men sat at dinner in the
Rectory. It was a very fine Rectory, beautifully
furnished ; for Owen was a man of taste, and had
the means to gratify it. Also, although they were
alone, the dinner was good — so good that the poor
broken-down missionary, sipping his unaccustomed
port, a vintage wine, sighed aloud in admiration
and involuntary envy.

" What is the matter ? " asked Owen.

" Nothing, Mr. Owen ; " then, of a sudden thawing
into candour, he added : " that is, everything.
Heaven forgive me ; but I, who am enjoying your
hospitality, am envious of you. Don't think too
hardly of me ; but I have a large family to support,
and if only you knew what a struggle my life is,
and has been for the last twenty years, you would
not, I am sure. But you have never experienced

THE DEPUTATION 13

it, and could not understand. ' The labourer
is worthy of his hire/ Well, my hire is under
two hundred a year, and eight of us must live — or
starve — on it. And I have worked, ay, until my
health is broken. A labourer indeed ! I am a
very hodman, a spiritual Sisyphus. And now I
must go back to carry my load and roll my stone
again and again among those hopeless savages till
I die of it— till I die of it ! "

" At least it is a noble life and death ! " exclaimed
Owen, a sudden fire of enthusiasm lighting up his
dark eyes.

" Yes, viewed from a distance. Were you asked
to leave this living of two thousand a year, — I see
that is what they put it at in Crockford, — with its
English comforts and easy work, that you might
lead that life and attain that death, then you would
think differently. But why should I bore you
with such talk ? Thank Heaven that your lines
are cast in pleasant places. - Yes, please, I will take
one more glass ; it does me good."

" Tell me some more about that tribe you were
speaking of in your sermon, the ', Sons of Fire ' I
think you called them," said Owen, as he pushed
him the decanter.

So, with an eloquence induced by the generous
wine and a quickened imagination, the Deputation
told him, — told him many strange things and
terrible. For this people was an awful people :
vigorous in mind and body, and warriors from
generation to generation, but superstition -ridden

14 THE WIZARD

and cruel. They lived in the far interior, some
months' journey by boat and ox-wagon from the
coast, and of white men and their ways they knew
but little.

" How many of them are there ? " asked Owen.

" Who can say ? " he answered. " Nearly half a
million, perhaps ; at least they pretend that they
can put sixty thousand men under arms."

" And did they treat you badly when you visited
them ? "

" Not at first. They received us civilly enough ;
and on a given day we were requested to explain
to the King and the Council of Wizards the religion
that we came to teach. All that day we explained
and. air the next, — or rather my friend did, for
I knew very little of the language, — and they
listened with great interest. At last the chief
of the wizards and the first prophet to the King
rose to question us. He was named Hokosa, a
tall, thin man, with a spiritual face and terrible
calm eyes.

" ' You speak well, son of a white man/ he said ;
' but let us pass from words to deeds. You tell
us that this God of yours, whom you desire that
we should take as 'our God, so that you may become
His chief prophets in the land, was a wizard such
as we are, though greater than we are ; for not
only did He know the past and the future as we
do, but also He could cure those who were smitten
with hopeless sickness, and raise those who were
dead, which we cannot do. You tell us, moreover,

THE DEPUTATION 15

that by faith those who believe on Him can do works
as great as He did, and that you do believe on Him.
Therefore we will put you to the proof. Ho ! there,
lead forth that evil one/

" As he spoke a man was placed before us, one
who had been convicted of witchcraft or some
other crime.

" ' Kill him ! ' said Hokosa.

" There was a faint cry, a scuffle, a flashing of
spears, and the man lay still before us.

' Now, followers of the new God/ said Hokosa,
' raise him from the dead as your Master did ! '

" In vain did we offer explanations.

' Peace ! ' said Hokosa, at length, ' your words
weary us. Look now, either you have preached
to us a false God and are liars, or you are traitors
to the King you preach, since, lacking faith in Him,
you cannot do such works as He gives power to
do to those who have faith in Him. Out of your
own mouths are you judged, White Men. Choose
which horn of the bull you will, you hang to one
of them and it shall pierce you. This is the sentence
of the King, I speak it who am the King's Mouth :
That you, White Man, who have spoken to us these
two weary days, be put to death, and that you, his
companion, be driven from the land/

" I can hardly bear to tell the rest of it, Mr. Owen.

They gave my poor friend ten minutes * to talk to

his Spirit/ then they speared him before my face.

After it was over, Hokosa spoke to me, saying :

' Go back, White Man, to those who sent you,

16 THE WIZARD

and tell them the words of the Sons of Fire : That
they have listened to the message of peace, and
though they be a people of warriors, yet they thank
them for that message, for in itself it sounds good
and beautiful in their ears, if it be true. Tell
them that having proved you to be liars, they
dealt with you as all honest men seek that liars
should be dealt with. Tell them that they desire
to hear more of this matter, and if one can be sent
to them who has no false tongue, who in all things
fulfils the promise of his lips, that they will hearken
to him and treat him well, but that for such as you
they keep a spear/ "

" And who went after you got back ? " asked
Owen, who was listening with the deepest interest.

" Who went ! Do you suppose that there are
many mad clergymen in Africa, Mr. Owen ? Nobody
went."

" And yet," said Owen, speaking more tor himself
than to his guest, " the man Hokosa was right;
and the Christian, who of a truth believes the
promises of our religion, should trust to them and

go."

" Then perhaps you would like to undertake
the mission, Mr. Owen," said the Deputation briskly ;
for the reflection stung him, unintentional as it
was.

Owen started.

" That is a new idea," he said. " And now perhaps
you wish to go to bed ; it is past eleven o'clock."

CHAPTER II

THOMAS OWEN

THOMAS OWEN went to his room, but not to bed.
Taking a Bible from the table, he consulted reference
after reference.

" The promise is clear," he said aloud, presen tly ,
as he shut the book, " clear and often repeated.
There is no escape from it, and no possibility of a
double meaning. If it is not true, then it would
seem that nothing is true, and that every Christian
in the world is tricked and deluded. But if it is
true, why do we never hear of miracles ? The
answer is easy : Because we have not faith enough
to work them. The Apostles worked miracles ;
for they had seen, therefore their faith was perfect.
Since their day nobody's faith has been quite perfect ;
at least I think not. Ttie physical part of our nature
prevents it. Or perhaps the miracles still happen,
but they are spiritual miracles."

Then he sat down by the open window, and
gazing at the dreamy- beauty of the summer night
he thought, for his soul was troubled. Once before
it had been troubled thus ; that wa«s nine years
ago, for now he was but little over thirty. Then
17

18 THE WIZARD

'-•*'*.•

a call had come to him, a voice had seemed to
speak in his ears bidding him to lay down great
possessions to follow whither Heaven should lead
him. Thomas Owen had obeyed the voice, though,
owing to circumstances which need not be detailed,
to do so he was obliged to renounce his succession
to a very large estate, and to content himself with
a younger son's portion of thirty thousand pounds
and the reversion to the living which he had now
held for some five years. Then, and there, with
singular unanimity and despatch, his relations came
to the conclusion that he was mad. To this hour,
indeed, those who stand in his place and enjoy the
wealth and position that were* his by right, speak of
him as " poor Thomas," and mark their dis-
approbation of his peculiar conduct by refusing
with an unvarying steadiness to subscribe even a
single shilling to a missionary society. How " poor
Thomas " speaks of them in the place where he is we
may wonder, but as yet wre cannot know — probably
with the gentle love and charity that marked
his every action upon earth. But this is by the
way. ^

He had entered the Church, but what had he
done in it ? That was the question that he asked
himself as he sat this night by the open window,
arraigning his past before the judgment-seat of
conscience. For three years fie had worked hard
somewhere in the slums ; .then this living had
fallen to him. He had taken it, and from that
day forward his record was very much of a blank.

THOMAS OWEN 19

The parish was small and well ordered ; there
,was little to do in it, and the Salvation Army had
seized upon and reclaimed the three confirmed
drunkards it could boast. His guest's saying
echoed in his brain like the catch of a tune — " that
you might lead that life and attain that death."
Supposing that he were bidden so to do now, this
very night, would he indeed " think differently " ?
He had entered the Church to serve his Maker.
How would it be were that Maker to command that
he should serve Him in this extreme and heroic
fashion ? Would he flinch from the steel, or would
he meet it as the martyrs met it of old ?

Physically he was little suited to such an enterprise,
for in appearance he was slight and pale, and in
constitution delicate. Also, there was another
reason against it. High Church and somewhat
ascetic in his principles, in the beginning he had
admired celibacy, and in secret dedicated himself to*
that state. But in his heart Thomas was very much
a man, and of late he had come to see that that which
is against nature is presumably not right, though
fanatics may not hesitate to pror;ounce it wrong.
Possibly this conversion to these more genial views
of life was quickened by the presence in the neigh-
bourhood of a young lady whom he chanced to
admire ; at least it is certain that the mere thought
of seeing her no more for ever smote him like a
sword of sudden pain.

That very night— or so it seemed to him, and

20 THE WIZARD

so he believed — the Angel of the Lord stood before
him as he was wont to stand before the men of old,
and spoke a summons in his ear. How or in what
seeming that summons came Owen never told, and
we need not inquire. At the least he heard it, and
like the Apostles, he arose and girded his loins to
obey. For now, in the hour of trial, it proved that
this man's faith partook of the nature of their faith ;
it was utter and virgin ; it was not clogged with
nineteenth-century qualifications ; it had never
dallied with strange doctrines, or kissed the feet of
pinchbeck substitutes for God. In his heart he
believed that the Almighty, without intermediary,
but face to face, had bidden him to go forth into the
wilderness there to perish, and he bowed his head
and went.

On the following morning at breakfast Owen
fed some talk with his friend the Deputation.

".You asked me last night," he said, quietly,
" whether I would undertake a mission to that
people of whom you were telling me, the Sons of
Fire. Well, I have been thinking it over, and come
to the conclusion that I will do so—

At this point the Deputation, concluding that
his host must be mad, moved quietly but decidedly
towards the door.

" Wait a moment," went on Owen, in a matter-
of-fact voice, " the dog-cart will not be round for
another three-quarters of an hour. Tell me, if it
were offered to you, and on investigation you

THOMAS OWEN 21

proved suitable, would you care to take over this
living ? "

" Would I care to take over this living ? " gasped
the astonished Deputation. " Would I care to walk
into that garden and find myself in Heaven ? But
why are you making fun of me ? "

" I am not making fun of you. If I go to Africa
I must give up the living, of which I own the
advowson, ard it occurred to me that it might suit
you, that is all. You have done your share ; your
health is broken, and you have many dependent
upon you. It seems right, therefore, that you
should rest and that I should work. If I do no good
yonder, at the least you and yours will be a little
benefited."

That same day Owen chanced to meet the lady
who has been spoken of as having caught his heart.
He had meant to go away without seeing her,
but fortune brought them together. Hitherto,
whilst in reality leading him on, she had seemed
to keep him at a distance, with the result that he
did not know that- it was her fixed intention to
marry him. To her, with some hesitation, he told
his plans. Surprised, and frightened into candour,
the lady reasoned with him warmly, and when
reason failed to move him she did more. By some
subtle movement, with some sudden word, she lifted
the veil of her reserve and suffered "him to see her
heart. " If you will not stay for aught else," said
her troubled eyes, " then, love, stay for me."

22 THE WIZARD

For a moment he was shaken. Then he answered
the look straight out, as was his nature.

" I never guessed," he said. " I did not presume
to hope — now it is too late ! Listen, I will tell
you what I have told no living soul, though thereafter
you may think me mad. Weak and humble as I am,
I believe myself to have received a Divine mission.
I believe that I shall execute it, or bring about its
execution, but at the ultimate cost of my own life.
Still, in such a service two are better than one.
If you — can care enough, — if you—

But the lady had already turned away, and was
murmuring her farewells in accents that sounded
like a sob. Love and faith after this sort were
not given to her.

Of all Owen's trials this was the sharpest. Of
all his sacrifices this was the most complete.

CHAPTER III

THE TEMPTATION

Two years had gone by, and from the Rectory
in a quiet English village we pass to a scene in
Central, or South Central, Africa.

On the brow of a grassy slope dotted over with
mimosa thorns, and close to a gushing stream of
water, stands a house, or rather a hut, built of
green brick and thatched with grass. Behind
this hut is a fence of thorns, rough but strong,
designed to protect all within it from the attacks of
lions and other beasts of prey. At present, save
for a solitary mule eating its provender by the
wheel of a tented ox- wagon, it is untenanted, for
the cattle have not yet been kraaled for the night.
Presently Thomas Owen enters this enclosure by
the back-door of the hut, and having attended to
the mule, which whinnies at the sight of him, goes
to the gate and watches there till he sees- the native
boys driving the cattle up the slope of the hill.
At length they arrive, and when he has counted
them to make sure that none are missing, and in
a few kind words commended the herds for their
watchfulness, he walks to the front of the house, and

23

24 THE WIZARD

seating himself upon a wooden stool set under a
mimosa tree that grows near the door, he looks
earnestly towards the west.

The man has changed somewhat since last we
saw him. To begin with, he has grown a beard,
and although the hot African sun has bronzed it
into an appearance of health, his face is even thinner
than it was, and the great spiritual eyes shine still
more strangely in it.

At the foot of the slope runs a wide river, just
here broken into rapids where the waters make
an angry music. Beyond the river stretches a
vast plain bounded on the horizon by mountain
ranges, each line of them rising higher than the
other till the topmost and more distant peaks
melt imperceptibly into the tender blue of the
heavens. This is the land of the Sons of Fire,
and yonder amid the slopes of the nearest hills
is the great kraal of their king, Umsuka, whose
name, being interpreted, means The Thunderbolt.

In the very midst of the foaming rapids and
about a thousand yards from the house lies a space
of rippling shallow water, where, unless it chances
to be in flood, the river can be forded. It is this
ford that Owen watches so intently.

" John should have been back twelve hours^ago,"
he mutters to himself. " I pray that no harm has
befallen him at the Great Place yonder."

Just then a tiny black speck appears far-away
on the plain. It is a man travelling towards the
water at a swinging trot. Going into the hut, Owen

TEMPTATION 25

returns with a pair of field glasses, and through them
scrutinizes the figure of the man.

" Heaven be praised ! it is John," he mutters, with
a sigh of relief. " Now, I wonder what answer he
brings ? "

Half an hour later John stands before him, a
stalwart native of the tribe of the Amasuka, the
People of Fire, and with uplifted hand salutes him,
giving him titles of honour. .

" Praise me not, John," said Owen ; " praise God
only, as I have taught you to do. Tell me, have you
seen the King, and what is his word ? "

" Father," he answered, " I journeyed to the great
town, as you bade me, and I was admitted before the
majesty of the King ; yes, he received me in the
courtyard of the House o? Women. With his guards,
who stood at a distance out of hearing, there were
present three only ; but oh ! those three were great,
the greatest in all the land after the King. They
were Hafela, the King that is to come, the Prince
Nodwengo, his brother, and Hokosa the terrible, the
chief of the wizards ; and I tell you, father, that my
blood dried up and my heart shrivelled when they
turned their eyes upon me, reading the thoughts of
my heart."

" Have I not told you, John, to trust in God and
fear nothing at the hands of man ? "

" You have told me, father, but still I feared,"
answered the messenger, humbly ; " yet, being
bidden to it, I lifted my forehead from the dust and
stood upon my feet before the King and delivered

26 THE WIZARD

to him the message which you set between my
lips."

" Repeat the message, John."

" ' O King/ I said, ' beneath whose footfall the
whole earth shakes, whose arms stretch round the
world and whose breath is the storm, I, whose name
is John, am sent by the white man whose name is
Messenger/ — for by that title you bade me make you
known — ' who for a year has dwelt in the land that
your spears have wasted beyond the banks of the
river. These are the words that he spoke to me,

0 King, and that I pass on to you with my tongue :
" To the King, Umsuka, lord of the Amasuka, the
Sons of Fire, I, Messenger, who am the servant and
the ambassador of the King: of Heaven, give greeting.
A year ago, King, I sent to you saying that the
message which was brought by that white man whom
you drove from your land had reached the ears of
Him whom I serve, the High and Holy One, and that,
speaking in my heart, He had commanded me to
take up the challenge of your message. Here am I,
therefore, ready to abide by the law which you have
laid down ; for if guile or lies be found in me, then
let me travel from your land across the bridge of
spears. Still, I would dwell a little while here where

1 am before I pass into the shadow of your rule and
speak in the ears of your people as I have been
bidden. Know, King, that first I would learn your
tongue, and therefore I demand that one of your
people may be sent to dwell with me and to teach me
that tongue. King, you heard my words and you

THE TEMPTATION 27

sent me a man to dwell with me, and that man has
taught me your tongue, and I also have taught him,
converting him to my faith, and giving him a new
name, the name of John. King, now I seek your
leave to visit you, and to deliver into your ears the
words with which I, Messenger, am charged. I have
spoken."

" Thus I, John, addressed' the great ones, my
father, and they listened in silence. When I had
done they spoke together, a \^rd here and a word
there. Then Hokosa, the King's Mouth, answered
me, telling the thought of the King : ' You are a
bold man, you whose name is John, but who once
had another name — you, who dare to appear before
me and to make it known to me that you have been
turned to a new faith and serve another King than I.
Yet because you are bold, I forgive you. Go back
now to that white man who is named Messenger, and
who comes upon an embassy to me from the Lord of
Heaven, and bid him come in peace. Yet warn him
once again that here also we know something of the
powers that are not seen, here also we have our
wizards who draw wisdom from the air, who tame
the thunderbolt and compel the rain, and that he
must show himself greater than all of these if he
would not pass hence by the bridge of spears. Let
him, therefore, take counsel with his heart and with
Him he serves, if such a One there is, and let him
come or let him sta^ away as it shall -please
him/"

" So be it," said Owen ; " the words of the King

28 THE WIZARD

are good, and to-morrow we will start for the Great
Place."

John heard and assented, but without eagerness.

" My father," he said, in a doubtful and tentative
voice, " would it not perhaps be better to bide here
first ? "

" Why ? " asked Owen. " We have sown, and
now is the hour to reap."

" Quite so, my father, but as I ran hither, full of
the King's words, it came into my mind that now is
not the time to convert the Sons of Fire. There is
trouble brewing at the Great Place, father. Listen,
and I will tell you ; as I have heard, so I will tell
you. You know well that our King Umsuka has
two sons, Hafela and Nodwengo ; and of these
Hafela is the heir-apparent, the fruit of the chief
wife of the King, and Nodwengo is sprung from
another wife. Now Hafela is proud and cruel, a
warrior of warriors, a terrible man, and Nodwengo
is gentle and mild, like to his mother whom the King
loves. Of late it has been discovered that Hafela,
weary of waiting for power, has made a plot to depose
his father and to kill Nodwengo, his brother, so that
the land and those who dwell in it may become his
without question. This plot the King knows — I
had it from one of his women, who is my sister — and
he is very wrath, yet he dare do little, for he grows
old and timid, and seeks rest, not war. Yet he is
minded, if he can find the heart, to go back upon
the law and to name Nodwengo as his heir before
all the army at the Feast of the First-fruits, which

THE TEMPTATION 29

shall be held on the third day from to-night. This
Hafela knows, and Nodwengo knows it also, and each
of them has summoned his following, numbering
thousands and tens of thousands of spears, to attend
the Feast of the First-fruits. That feast may well be
a feast of vultures, my father, and when the brothers
and their regiments rush together fighting for the
throne, what will chance to the white man who
comes at such a moment to preach a faith of peace,
and to his servant, one John, who led him there ? "
" I do not know," answered Owen, " and it troubles
me not at all. I go to carry out my mission, and in
this way or in that it will be carried out. John,
if you are fearful or unbelieving, leave me to go
alone."

" Nay, father, I am not fearful ; yet, father, I
would have you understand. Yonder there are men
who can work wizardry. Wow ! I know, for I have
seen it, and they will demand from you magic greater
than their magic."
" What of it, John ? "

" Only this, my father, that if they ask and you
fail to give, they will kill you. You teach beautiful
things, but say, are you a wizard ? When the child
of a woman yonder lay dead, you could not raise it
as did the Christ ; when the oxen were sick, you
could not cure them ; or at least, my father, you
did not, although you wept for the child and were
sorry at the loss of the oxen. Now, my father, if
perchance they ask you to do such things as these
yonder, or die, say, what will happen ? "

3'

30 THE WIZARD

•

" One of two things, John : either I shall die or
I shall do the things."

" But " — hesitated John — " surely you do not
believe that— -" and he broke off.

Owen turned round and looked at his disciple
with kindling eyes. " I do believe, oh you of little
faith ! " he said, " I do believe that yonder I have a
mission, and that He Whom I serve will give me
power to carry out that mission. You are right, I
can work no miracles ; but He can work miracles
Whom everything in Heaven and earth obeys, and
if there is need He will work them through me, His
instrument. Or perhaps He will not work them,
and I shall die, because thus His ends will best be
forwarded. At the least I go in faith, fearing
nothing, for what has he to fear who knows the will
of God and does it ? But to you who doubt, I say—
leave me ! "

The man spread out his hands in deprecation ; his
thick lips trembled a little, and something like a
tear appeared at the corners of his eyes.

" Father," he said, " am I a coward that you should
talk to me thus ? I, who for twenty years have been
a soldier of my king and for ten a captain in my
regiment ? These scars show whether or no I am
a coward," and he pointed to his breast, " but of
them I will not speak. I am no coward, else I had
not gone upon that errand of yours. Why, then,
would you reproach me because my ears are not so
open as yours, and my heart has not understanding ?
I worship that God of Whom you have taught me,

THE TEMPTATION 31

but He never speaks to me as He does to you. I
r meet Him as I walk at night ; He leaves me
quite alone. Therefore it is that I fear that when the
hour of trial comes He may desert you ; and unless
He covers you with His shield, of this I am sure,
that the spear is forged that shall blush red in your
heart, my father. It is for you that I fear, who are
so gentle and tender ; not for myself, who am well
accustomed to look in the eyes of Death, and who
expect no more than death."

" Forgive me," said Owen, hastily, for he was
moved, " and be sure that the shield will be over us
till the time comes for us to pass whither we shall

need none."

%

That night Owen rose from the task at which he
was labouring slowly and painfully, a translation of
passages from St. John's Gospel into the language
of the Amasuka, and going to the open window-
place of the hut, he rested his elbows upon it and
thought. Now it was as he sat thus that a great
agony of doubt took possession of his soul. The
.£th that hitherto had supported him seemed to
be withdrawn, and he was left, as John had said,
" quite alone." Strange voices seemed to whisper'
in his ears, reproaching and reviling him ; temp-
tations long ago trampled under foot rose again in
might, alluring him.

" Fool ! " said the voices, " get you hence before
it is too late. You have been mad, you who dreamed
that for your sake, to satisfy your pride, the Almighty

3.2 THE WIZARD

would break His silence and strain His law. Are you
then better, or greater, or purer than millions who
have gone before you, that for you and you alone
this thing should be done ? Why, were it not that
you are mad, you would be among the chief of sinners;
you, who dare to ask that the powers of Heaven
should be set within your feeble hand, that the Angels
of Heaven should wait upon your mortal breath.
Worm that you are, has God need of such as you ?
If it is His will to turn the heart of yonder people
He will do it, but not by means of you. You and
the servant whom you are deluding to his death
will perish miserably, and this alone shaft be the
fruit of your presumptuous sin. Get you back out
of this wilderness before this madness takes you
afresh. You are young, you have wealth ; look
where She stands yonder whom you desire. Get
you back, and forget your folly in her arms."

These thoughts, and many others of like nature,
tore Owen's soul in that hour of strange and terrible
temptation. Hp 'seemed to see himself standing
before the thousands of the savage nation he went
to save, and to hear the mocking voices of their
witch-finders commanding him, if he were a true
man and the servant of that God of Whom he prated,
to give them a sign, only a little sign, perchance to
move a stone without touching it with his hand,
or to cause a dead bough to blossom. Then he
would beseech Heaven with frantic prayers, and in
vain, till at length, amidst a roar of laughter, he,
the false prophet and the liar, was led out to his

THE TEMPTATION 33

doom. He saw the piteous, wondering look of the
believer whom he had betrayed to death ; he saw
the fierce faces and the spears on high, and seeing all
this his spirit broke, and, just as the little clock in
the room behind him struck the first stroke of
midnight, with a great and bitter cry to God to give
him back the faith and strength that he had lost,
Owen's head fell forward, and he sank into a swoon
tli ere upon the window-place.

CHAPTER IV

THE VISION

WAS it swoon or sleep ? At least it seemed to
Owen that presently oncfe again he was gazing
into the dense, intolerable blackness of the night.
Then a marvel came to pass; for the blackness
opened, or rather 'on it, framed and surrounded by
it, there appeared a vision. It was the vision of
a native town, having a great bare space in the
centre of it encircled by hundreds or thousands of
huts. But there was no one stirring about the huts,
for it was night — not this his night of trial indeed,
since now the sky was strewn with innumerable stars.
Everything was silent about that town, save that
now and again a dog barked or a fretful child wailed
within a hut, or the sentries as they passed, saluted
each other in the name of the king.

Among all those hundreds of huts, to Owen it
seemed that his attention was directed to one which
stood apart with a fence about it. Now the interior
of the hut opened itself to him. It was not lighted,
yet with his spirit sense he could see its every detail :
the polished floor, the skin rugs, the beer gourds,
the shields and spears, the roof tree of red wood,

34

THE VISION 35

and the^dried lizard hanging from the thatch, a
charm to ward off evil. In this hut, seated face to
face half-way between the centre-post and the door-
hole, were two men. The darkness was deep about
them and they whispered to each other through it ;
but in his dream it was no bar to Owen's sight. He
could discern their faces clearly. One was that of
a man of about thirty-five years of age. In stature
he was almost a giant. He wore a kaross of leopard-
skins, and on his wrists and ankles were rings of
ivory, the royal ornaments. His face was fierce and
powerful ; his eyes, which were set far apart, rolled
so much that at times they seemed all white ; and
liis lingers played nervously with the handle of a
spear that he carried in his right hand. His com-
panion was of a different stamp ; a man of not less
than fifty years, he was tall and spare in figure, with
delicately-shaped hands and feet. His hair and
little beard were tinged with grey, his face was
strikingly handsome, nervous and expressive, and his
forehead both broad and high. But more remarkable
still were his eyes, which were of a piercing brightness,
almost grey in colour, steady as the flame of a
well-trimmed lamp, and so cold that they might
have been precious stones set in the head of a
statue.

" Must I then put your thoughts in words ? "
said this man in a clear, quick whisper. " Well, so
be it ; for I weary of sitting here in the dark waiting
for water that will not flow. Listen, Prince ; you
come to talk to me of the death of a king — is it not

36 THE WIZARD

so ? Nay, do not start. Why are you affrighted
when you hear the plot upon the lips of another,
that these many months has been familiar to your
breast ? "

" Truly, Hokosa,* you are the best of wizards,
or the worst," answered the great man huskily.
" Yet this once you are mistaken," he added with
a change of voice. " I came but to ask you for a
charm to turn my father's heart—

" To dust ? Prince, if I am mistaken, why am
I the best of wizards, or the worst, and .why did
your jaw drop and your face change at my words,
and why do you even now touch your dry lips with
your tongue ? Yes, I know that it is dark here, yet
some can see in it, and I am one of them. Ay,
Prince, and I can see your thoughts also. You
would be rid of your father : he has lived too long.
Moreover, his love turns to Nodwengo, the good and
gentle ; and perhaps — who can say ? — it is even in
his mind, when all his regiments are about him two
days hence, to declare that you, Prince, are deposed,
and that your brother, Nodwengo, shall be king in
your stead. Now, Nodwengo you cannot kill, he
is too well loved and too .well guarded. If he died
suddenly, his dead lips would call out ' Murder ! '
in the ears of all men ; and, Prince, all eyes would
turn to you, who alone could profit by his end.
But if the King should chance to die — why, he is
old, is he not ? and such things happen to the old ;
also he grows feeble, and will not suffer the regiments
to be doctored for war, though day by day they

THE VISION 37

clamour to be led to battle ; for he seeks to end his
years in peace."

" I say that you speak folly," answered the Prince
with vehemence.

"Then, Son of the Great One, why should you
waste time in listening to me ? Farewell, Hafela,
the Prince, firstborn of the King, who in a day to
come shall carry the shield of Nodwengo ; for he
is good and gentle, and will spare your life, — if I
beg it of him."

Hafela stretched out his hand through the darkness
and caught Hokosa by the wrist.

" Stay," he whispered, " it is true. The King
must die ; for if he does not die within three days, I
shall cease to be his heir. I know it through my
spies. He is angry with me ; he hates me, and he
loves Nodwengo and the mother of Nodwengo. But
dies before the last day of the festival, then that
decree will never pass his lips, and the regiments will
never roar out the name of Nodwengo as the name
of the King to come. He must die, I tell you,
Hokosa, and by your hand."

" By my hand, Prince ! Nay ; what have you to
offer me in return for such a deed as this ? Have I
not grown up in Umsuka's shadow, and shall I cut
down the tree that shades me ? "

" What have I to offer you ? This : that next
to myself you shall be the greatest in the land,
Hokosa."

" That I am already, and whoever rules it, that I
must always be. I, who am the chief of wizards ; I,

38 THE WIZARD

the reader of men's hearts ; I, the hearer of men's
thoughts ; I, the lord of the air and the lightning ;
I, the invulnerable ! If you would murder, Prince,
then do the deed ; do it knowing that I have your
secret, and that henceforth you who rule shall be
my servant. Nay, you forget that I can see in
the dark ; lay down that assegai, or, by my spirit,
Prince as you are, I will blast you with a spell, and
your body shall be thrown to the kites, as that of
one who would murder his king and father ! "

The Prince heard and shook, his cheeks sank in,
the muscles of his great form seemed to collapse,
and he grovelled on the floor of the hut.

" I know your magic," he groaned : " use it for
me, not against me ! What is there that I can
offer you, who have everything except the throne,
whereon you cannot sit, seeing that you are not of
the blood-royal ? "

" Think," said Hokosa.

For a while the Prince thought, till presently his
form straightened itself, and with a quick movement
he lifted up his head.

" Is it, perchance, my affianced wife ? " he whis-
pered : " the lady Noma, whom I love, and who,
according to our custom, I shall wed as the queen
to be after the Feast of First-fruits ? Oh ! say it
not, Hoifosa."

" I say it," answered the wizard. " Listen, Prince.
The lady Noma is the only child of my blood-brother,
my friend, with whom I was brought up, he who was
slain at my side in the great war with the tribes of

THE VISION 39

the nor tli. She was my ward : she was more ; for
through her, — ah ! you know not how — I held my
converse with the things of earth and air, the spirits
that watch us now in this darkness, Hafela. Thus
it happened that before ever she was a woman, her
mind grew greater than the mind of any other
woman, and .her thought became my thought, and
my thought became her thought, for I and no other
am her master. Still I waited to wed her till she
was fully grown ; and while I waited I went upon
an embassy to the northern tribes. Then it was
that you saw the maid in visiting at my kraal, and
her beauty and her wit took -hold of you ; and in the
Council of the King, as yon have a right to do, you
.•d her as your head wife, the queen that is to be.
King heard and bowed his head; he sent and
, and placed her in the House of the Royal
Women, theiv to a.bidr till this J vast of the First-fruits,
when site shall be given to you in marriage. Yes, he
sent her to that house wherein not even I may set
All hough 1 was arfar, her spirit warned me,
and 1 returned, but too ia!e ; for she was sealed to
you of the blood md that is a law which may

iloi

d yon to return her to me, and
Von mocked me. i would have brought you to
yon but it could not have availed me ; for

then, by that same law which may not be broken,
she who ii-d to you must die with you ; and

though • 'in I si 1011 Id sit with me till

I also died, it was not enough, since I who have

40 THE WIZARD

conquered all, yet cannot conquer the fire that wastes
my heart, nor cease to long by night and day for a
woman who is lost to me. Then it was, Hafela, that
I plotted vengeance against you. I threw my spell
over the mind of the King, till he learned to hate
you and your evil deeds ; and I, even I, have brought
it about that your brother should be preferred before
you, and that you shall be the servant in his house.
This is the price that you must pay for her of whom
you have robbed me ; and by my spirit and her
'spirit you shall pay it ! Yet listen. Hand back the
girl, as you may do — for she is not yet your wife —
and choose another for your queen, and I will undo
all that I have done, and I will find you a means,
Hafela, to carry out your will. Ay, before six suns
have set, the regiments rushing past you shall hail
you King of the Nation of the Amasuka, Lord of the
House of Fire ! "

" I cannot," groaned the Prince ; " death were
better than this ! "

" Ay, death were better ; but you shall not die,
you shall live a servant, and your name shall become
a mockery, a name for women to make rhymes on."

Now the Prince sprang up.

" Take her ! " he hissed — " take her ! you, who are
an evil spirit ; you, beneath whose eyes children
wail, and at whose passing the hair on the backs of
hounds stands up ! Take her, priest of death and
evil ; but take my curse with her ! Ah ! I also can
prophecy ; and I tell you that this woman whom you
have taught, this witch of many spells whose glance

THE VISION 4i

can shrivel the hearts of men, shall give you to drink
of your own medicine ; ay, she shall dog you to the
death, and mock you while you perish by an end of
shame ! "

" What," laughed the-wizard, " have I a rival in my
own arts ? Nay, Hafela, if you would learn the
trade, pay me well and I will give you lessons. Yet
I counsel you not ; for you are flesh, nothing but
flesh, and he who would rule the air must cultivate
the spirit. Why, I tell you, Prince, that even the
love for her who is my heart, the lady whom we both
would wed, partaking of the flesh as, alas ! it does,
* has cost me half my powers. Now let us cease from
empty words, and strike our bargain.

" Listen. On the last day of the feast, when all
the regiments are gathered to salute the King there
in his Great Place according to custom, you shall
stand forth before the King and renounce Noma,
and she shall pass back to the care of my household.
You yourself shall bring her to where I stand, and as
I take her from you I will put into your hand a
certain powder. Then you shall return to the side
of the King, and after our fashion shall give him
to drink the bowl of the first-fruits ; but as you stir
the beer, you will let fall into it that powder which
I have given you. The King will drink, and what he
leaves undrunk you will throw out upon the dust.
Now he will rise to give out to the people his royal
decree, whereby, Prince, you are to be deposed from
your place as heir, and your brother, Nodwengo,
is to be set in your place. But of that decree never

42 THE WIZARD

a word shall pass his lips ; if it does, recall your
saying*and take back the la.dy Noma from where she
stands beside me. I tell you that never a word shall
pass his lips ; for even as he rises a stroke shall take
him, such a stroke as often 4alls upon the fat and
aged, and he shall sink to the ground snoring through
his nostrils. For a while thereafter — it may be six
hours, it may be twelve — he shall lie insensible, and
then a cry will arise that the King is dead ! "

" Ay," said Hafela, " and that I have poisoned
him!"

" Why, Prince ? Few know what is in your
father's mind, and with those, being king, you will
be able to deal. Also this is the virtue of the poison
which I choose, that it is swift, yet the symptoms of
it are the symptoms of a natural sickness. But that
your safety and mine may be assured, I have made
yet another plan, though there will be little need of
it. You were present two days since when a runner
came from the white man who sojourns beyond our
border, he who seeks to teach, us, the Children of
Fire, a new faith, and gives out that he is the messen-
ger of the King of Heaven; This runner asked leave
for the white man to visit the Great Place, and,
speaking in the King's name, I gave him leave.
But I warned his servant that if his master came,
a sign should be required of him to show that he
was a true man and had of the wisdom of the King
of Heaven^; and that if he failed therein, then that
he should die as that white liar died who visited us
in bygone years. Now I have so ordered that this

THE VISION 43

white man, passing through the Valley of Death
yonder, shall reach the Great Place not long before
the King drinks of the cup of the first-fruits. Then if
any think that something out of nature has happened
to the King, they will surely think also that this
strange prayer-doctor has wrought it. Then also I
will call for a sign from the white man, praying of
him to recover the King of his sickness ; and when
he fails he shall be slain as a worker of spells and the
false prophet of a false God, and so we shall be rid
of him and his new faith, and you shall be cleared
of daubt. I§ not the plan good, Prince ? "

" It is very good, Hokosa — save for one thing
only."

" For what thing ? "

" This : the white man who is named Messenger
might chance to be a true prophet of a true God, and
to recover the King."

" Oho, let him do it, if he can ; but to do it, first
he must know the poison and its antidote. There
is but one, and it is known to me only of all men
in this land. When he has done that, then I, yes,
even I, Hokosa, will begin to inquire concerning
this God of his, who shows Himself so mighty in
the person of His messenger." And he laughed low
and scornfully. "Prince, farewell! I go * forth
alone, whither you dare not follow at this hour, to
seek that which we shall need. One word — think
not to play me false,, or to cheat me of my price ;
for whatever betides, be sure of this, that hour shall
be the hour of your dooming. Hail to you, Son of

44 THE WIZARD

the King ! Hail ! and farewell." And, removing
the doorboard, the wizard passed from the hut and
was gone.

. The vision changed. Now there appeared a valley
walled in on either side with sloping cliffs of granite ;
a desolate place, sandy and, save for a single spring,
without water, strewn with boulders of rock, some
of them piled fantastically one upon the other. At
a certain spot this valley widened out, and in the
mouth of the space thus formed, midway between the
curved lines of the receding cliffs stood a little hill
or koppie, also built up of boulders. It was a place
of death ; for all around the hill, and piled in hun-
dreds between the crevices of its stones, lay the white
bones of men. Nor was this all. Its summit was
flat, and in the midst of it stood a huge tree. Even
had it not been for the fruit that hung from its
branches, the aspect of that tree must have struck
the beholder as uncanny, even as horrible. The bark
on its great bole was leprous white ; and from its
gaunt and spreading rungs rose branches that sub-
divided themselves again and again, till at last they
terminated in round green fingers, springing from
grey, flat slabs of bark, in shape not unlike that of a
human palm. Indeed, from a little distance this
tree, especially if seen by moonlight, had the appear-
ance of bearing on it hundreds or thousands of the
arms and hands of men, all of them stretched im-
ploringly to Heaven. Well might they seem so to do,
seeing that to its naked limbs hung the bodies of at

THE VISION 45

least twenty human beings who had suffered death
by order of the King or his captains, or by the decree
of the company of wizards, whereof Hokosa was the
chief. There on the Hill of Death stood the Tree of
Death ; and there in its dank shade, or piled upon
the ground beneath it, hung and lay the pitiful
remnants of the multitudes who for generations had
been led thither to their doom.

Now in the vision a man was seen approaching
by the little pathway that ran up the side of the
mount — the Road of Lost Footsteps it was called.
It was Hokosa the wizard. Outside the circle of
the tree he halted, and drawing a tanned skin from
a bundle of medicines which he carried, he tied it
about his mouth ; for the very smell of that tree is
poisonous and must not be suffered to reach the lungs.

Presently he was under the branches? where once
again he halted ; this time it was to gaze at the body
of an old man which swung to and fro in the night
breeze.

" All ! friend," he muttered, " we strove for many
years, but it seems that I have conquered at the last.
Well, it is just ; for if you could have had your way
your end would have been my end."

Then very leisurely, as one who is sure that he
will not be interrupted, he began to climb the tree,
till at length some of the green fingers were within
his reach. Resting his back against a bough, one
by one he broke off several of them, and averting
his head so that the fumes of it might not reach him,
he caused the thick milk-white juice that they

46 THE WIZARD

contained to trickle into the mouth of a little gourd
which was hung about his neck by a string. When
he had collected enough of the poison and carefully
corked the goufd with a plug of wood, he descended
the tree again. At the great fork where the main
branches sprang from the trunk, he stood a while
contemplating a creeping plant which ran up them.
It was a plant of naked stem, like the tree it grew
upon ; and, also like the tree, its leaves consisted of
bunches of green spikes having a milky juice.

" Strange," he said aloud, " that nature should set
the bane and the antidote side by side, the one twined
about the other. Well, so it is in everything ; yes,
even in the heart of man. Shall I gather some of
this juice also ? No ; for then I might repent and
save him, remembering that he has loved me, and
thus lose hei* I seek, her^whom I must win back or
be withered. Let the Messenger of the King of
Heaven save him, if he can. This tree lies on his
path ; perchance he may prevail upon its dead to tell
him of the bane and of the antidote." And once
more he laughed mockingly.

The vision passed. At this moment Owen, re-
covering from his swoon, lifted his head from the
window-place. The night before him was as black
as it had been, and behind him the little clock was
still striking the hour of midnight, therefore he could
not have remained insensible for longer than a few
seconds.

A few seconds, yet how much had he seen in them,

THE VISION 4?

Truly his want of faith had been reproved, — truly
he also had been " warned of God in a dream,"-
truly "his ears had been opened and his instruction
sealed/' His soul had been " kept back from the
pit," and his life from " perishing by the sword ; "
and the way of the wicked had been made clear to
him " in a dream, in a vision of the night when deep
sleep falleth upon men."

Not for nothing had he endured that agony, and
not for nothing had he struggled in the grip of
doubt.

CHAPTER V

THE FEAST OF THE FIRST-FRUITS

ON the third morning from this night whereof the
strange events have been described, an ox-wagon
might have been seen outspanned on the hither
side of those ranges of hills that were visible from
the river. These mountains, which although not
high were very steep, formed the outer barrier and
defence of the kingdom of the Amasuka. Within
five hundred yards &i where the wagon stood,
however, a sheer cliff ed gorge, fire-riven and water-
hewn, pierced the range, and looking on it, Owen
knew it for the gorge of his dream. Night and day
the mouth of it was guarded by a company of armed
soldiers, whose huts were built high on outlook places
in the mountains, whence their keen eyes could scan
the vast expanses of plain. A full day before it
reached them, they had seen the white-capped wagon
crawling across the veldt, and swift runners had
reported its advent to the King at his Great Place.
Back came the word of the King that the white man,
with the wagon and his servant, were to be led on
towards the Great Place at such speed as would
bring him there in time for him to behold the last

48

THE FEAST OF THE FIRST-FRUITS 49

ceremony of the Feast of First-fruits ; but, for the
present, that the wagon itself and the oxen were to
be left at the mouth of the gorge, in charge of a guard
who would be answerable for them.

Now, on this morning the captain of the guard
and his orderlies advanced to the wagon and stood
in front of it. They were splendid men, armed with
great spears and shields, and adorned with feather
head-dresses and all the wild finery of their regiment.
Owen descended from the wagon and came to meet
them, and so for a few moments they remained,
face to face, in silence. A strange contrast they
presented as they stood there ; the bare-headed white
man frail, delicate, spiritual of countenance, and
the warriors great, grave, powerful, a very embodi-
ment of the essence of untamed humanity, an
incarnate presentation of the spirit of savage warfare.

" How are you named, White Man ? " asked the
captain.

" Chief, I am named Messenger."

"The peace of the King be with yon, Messenger,"
said the captain, lifting his spear.

" The peace of God be with you, Chief," answered
Owen, holding up his hands in blessing.

" Who is God ? " asked the captain.

" Chief, He is the King I serve, and His word is
between my lips."

" Then pass on, Messenger of God, and deliver

Hu- word of God your King into the ears of my king,

at his Great Place yonder. Pass on riding the

t you have brought with you, for tjie way is

50 THE WIZARD

rough ; but your wagon, your oxen, and your
servants, save this man. only who is of the Children
of Fire, must stay here in my keeping. Fear not,
Messenger, I will hold them safe."

"I do not fear, Chief; there is honour in your

Some hours later, Owen, mounted on his mule,
was riding through the gorge, a guard in front of
and behind him, and with them carriers who had
been sent to bear his baggage. At his side walked
his disciple John, and his face was sad.

" Why are you still afraid ? " asked Owen.

" Ah ! father, because this is a place of fear.
Here in this valley men are led to die ; presently
you will see."

" I have seen/' answered Owen. " There where
we shall halt is a mount, and on that mount stands a
tree ; it is called the Tree of Death, and it stretches
a thousand hands to Heaven, praying for mercy that
docs not cuine, and from its boughs there hangs fruit,
a fruit of dead men — yes, twenty of them ham\
there this day."

" How know you these things, my father," asked
the man, amazed, "seeing that I have never spoken
to you of them ? "

" Nay," lie answered, " God has spoken to me. My
God and your God."

Another hour passed, and they were resting *by
.the spring of water, near to the shadow of the
dreadful tree, for in that gorge the sup burned

THE FEAST OF THE FIRST-FRUITS 51

fiercely. John counted the bodies that swung
upon it and again looked fearfully at Owen, for
there were twenty of them.

" I desire to go up to that tree," Owen said to
the guard.

"As you will, Messenger," answered their leader ;
" I have no orders to prevent you from so doing.
Still," he added with a solemn smile, " it is a place
tha.1 IV vv seek of their own will, and, because I like
you well. Messenger, I pray it may never he my duty
to lead yon there of the King's will,"

Then Owen went up to the tree and John with
him, only John would not pass beneath the shadow
of its brandies ; but stood by wondering, while
his master bound a, handkerchief about his
mouth.

How did he know that the breath of the tree was
poisn John wondered.

Owen walked to the bole of the tree, and breaking
off some of the linger-like leaves of the creeper that
1 wined aixiiit it, he pressed their milky juice into
a little bottle that he had made ready. Then he
retiinu'd quickly, for the sights and odours of the
plarr were not to be borne.

Outside the circle of the branches he halted,
and removed the handkerchief from his mouth.

" lie of good cheer," he said to John, "and if it

should chance that I am called away before my

words coine true, yet remember my words. I

tel! you that this Tree of Death shall become the

Life for all the children of your people.

52 THE WIZARD

Look ! there above you is the sign and the promise
of it."

John lifted his eyes, following the line of Owen's
outstretched hand, and saw this. High up upon
the tree, and standing clear of all the other branches,
was one straight, dead limb, and from this dead
limb two arms projected at right angles, also dead
and snapped off short. Had a carpenter fashioned
a cross of wood and set it there, its proportions
could not have been more proper and exact. It was
very strange to find this symbol of the Christian hope
towrering above that place of human terror, and
stranger still was the purpose which it must serve
in a day to come.

Owen and John returned to the guard in silence,
and presently they set forward on their journey.
At length, passing beneath a natural arch of rock,
they were out of the Valley of Death, and before
them, not five hundred paces away, was the fence
of the Great Place. The Great Place stood upon
a high plateau, in the lap of the surrounding hills,
all of which were strongly fortified with schanses,
pitfalls, and rough walls of stone. This plateau
may have measured fifteen miles in circumference,,
and the fence of the town itself was about three miles
in circumference. Within the fence and following
its curve, for it was round, stood thousands of dome-
shaped huts carefully set out in streets. Within
these again was a stout stockade of timber, enclosing
a vast arena of trodden earth, large enough to contain
all the cattle of the People of Fire in times of danger,

THE FEAST OF THE FIRST-FRUITS 53

and to serve as a review ground for their impis
in times of peace or festival.

At the outer gate of the kraal there was a halt,
while the keepers of the gate despatched a messenger
to the King to announce the advent of the white man.
Of this pause Owen took advantage to array himself
in the surplice and hood which he had brought with
him in readiness for that hour, then he gave the mule
to John to lead behind him.

" What do you, Messenger ? " asked the leader
of the guard, astonished.

" I clothe myself in my war-dress," he answered.

" Where then is your spear, Messenger ? "

" Here," said Owen, presenting to his eyes a
crucifix of ivory, most beautifully carved.

" I perceive that you are of the family of wizards,"
said the man, and fell back.

Now they entered the kraal and passed for two
hundred yards or more through rows of huts, till
they reached the gate of the stockade, which was
opened to them. Once within it, Owen saw a
wonderful sight, such a sight as few white men have
seen. The ground of the enormous oval before him
was not flat ; either from natural accident or by
design it sloped gently upwards, so that the spectator,
standing by the gate or at the head of it before the
House of the King, could take in the whole expanse,
and, if his sight were keen enough, could see every
individual upon it. On the particular day of Owen's
arrival it was crowded with regiments, twelve of
them, all dressed in their different uniforms and

54 THE WIZARD

bearing shields to match, not one of which was less
than 2,500 strong. At this moment the regiments
were massed in deep lines, each battalion by itself,
on either side of the broad roadway that ran straight
up the kraal to where the King, his sons, his advisers
and guards, together with the Company of Wizards,
were placed in front of the Royal House. There
they stood in absolute silence, like tens of thousands
of bronze statues, and Owen perceived that either
they were resting or that they were gathered thus
to receive him. That the latter was the case soon
became evident, for as he appeared, a white spot at
the foot of the slope, countless heads turned and
myriads of eyes fastened themselves upon him.
For an instant he was dismayed ; there was some-
thing terrifying in this numberless multitude of
warriors, and the thought of the task that he had
undertaken crushed his spirit. Then he remembered,
and shaking off his fear and doubt, alone, save for
his disciple John, holding the crucifix aloft, he walked
slowly up the wide road towards the place where he
guessed that the King must be. His arm was weary
ere ever he reached it, but at length he found himself
standing before a thick-set old man, who was clad in
leopard-skins and seated on a stool of polished wood.

" It is the King," whispered John behind him.

" Peace be to you," said Owen, breaking the
silence.

" The wish is good, may it be fulfilled," answered
the King in a deep voice, sighing as he said the
words. " Yet yours is a strange greeting," he added.

THE FEAST OF THE FIRST-FRUITS 55

" Whence come you, White Man, how are you named,
and what is your mission to me and to my people ? "

" King, I come from beyond the sea, I am named
Messenger, and my mission is to deliver to you the
saying of God, my King and yours."

At these words a gasp of astonishment went up
from those who stood within hearing, expecting
as they did to see them rewarded by instant death.
But Umsuka only said :

' My King and yours ? ' Bold words, Messenger.
Where then is this King to whom I, Umsuka, should
bow the knee ? "

" He is everywhere — in the heavens, on the earth
and below the earth."

" If He is everywhere, then He is here. Show
me the likeness of this King, Messenger."

" Behold it," Owen answered, thrusting forward
the crucifix.

Now all the great ones about the King stared at
this figure of a dying man crowned with thorns
and hanging on a cross, and then drew up their
lips to laugh. But that laugh never left them ; a
sudden impulse, a mysterious wave of feeling choked
it in' their throats. A sense of the strangeness of
the contrast between themselves in their multitudes
and this one white-robed man in his loneliness took
hold of them, and with it another sense of something
not far removed from fear.

" A wizard indeed," they thought in their hearts,
;uid what they thought the King uttered.

" I perceive," he said, " that you are either mad,

56 THE WIZARD

White Man, or you are a prince of wizards. Mad
you do not seem to be, for your eyes are calm,
therefore a wizard you must be. Well, stand behind
me : by-and-by I will hear your message and ask
of you to show me your powers ; but before then
there are things which I must do. Are the lads
ready ? Ho, you, loose the bull ! "

At the words a line of soldiers moved from the
right, forming itself up in front of the King and
Ms attendants and revealing a number of youths,
of from sixteen to eighteen years of age, armed
with sticks only, who stood in companies outside
a massive gate. Presently this gate was opened,
and through it, with a mad bellow, rushed a wild
buffalo bull. On seeing them the brute halted, and
for a few moments stood pawing the earth and tearing
at it with his great horns. Then it put down its
head and charged. Instead of making way for it,
uttering a shrill whistling sound, the youths rushed
at the beast, striking with their sticks. Another
instant, and one of them appeared above the heads
of his companions, thrown high into the air, to be
followed by a second and a third. Now the animal
was through the throng and carrying a poor boy
on its horn, whence presently he fell dead ; it charged
furiously backward and forward, through the ranks
of the regiments. Watching it fascinated, Owen
noted that it was a point of honour for no man to
stir before its rush ; there they stood, and if the
bull gored them, there they fell. At length, exhausted
and terrified, the animal headed back straight up the

THE FEAST OF THE FIRST-FRUITS 57

lane where the main body of the youths were waiting
for it. Now it was among them, and, reckless of
wounds or death, they swarmed about it like bees,
seizing it by the legs, the nose, the horns and the
tail, till with desperate efforts they dragged • it to
the ground and beat the life out of it with their
sticks. This done, they formed up before the king
and saluted him.

" How many are killed ? " he asked.

" Eight in all," was the answer, "and fifteen are
gored."

" A good bull," he said with a smile ; " that of last
year killed but five. Well, the lads fought him
bravely. Let the dead be buried, the hurt tended,
or, if their harms are hopeless, slain, and.to the rest
give a double ration of beer. Ho now, fall back,
men, and make a space for the Bees and the Wasps
to fight in."

Some orders were given and a great ring was
formed, leaving an arena clear that may have
measured a hundred and fifty yards in diameter.
Then suddenly, from opposite sides, the two regiments
known as the Bees and the Wasps respectively,
rushed upon each other, uttering their war-cries.

" i put ten hea^l of cattle on the Bees ; who
wagers on the Wasps ? " cried the King.

" I, Lord," answered the Prince Hafela, stepping
forward.

" You, Prince ! " said the King with a quick
frown. " Well, you are right to back them, they
are your own regiment. Ah ! they are at it."

58 THE WIZARD

By this time the scene was that of a hell broken
loose upon the earth. The two regiments, numbering
some 5,000 men in all, had come together, and the
roar of their meeting shields was like the roar of
thunder. They were armed with kerries only, and
not with spears, for the fight was supposed to be
a mimic one ; but these weapons they used with
such effect that soon hundreds of them were down
dead or with shattered skulls and bruised limbs.
Fiercely they fought, wrhile the wiiole army watched,
for their rivalry was keen and for many months
they had known that they were to be pitted one
against the other on this day. Fiercely they fought,
while the captains cried their orders, and the dust
rose up in clouds as they swung to and fro, breast
thrusting against breast. At length the end came ;
the Bees began to give, they fell back ever more
quickly till their retreat was a rout, and, leaving
many stretched upon the ground, amid the mocking
cries of the army they were driven to the fence, by
touching which they obtained peace at the hands
of their victors.

The King saw, and his somewhat heavy, quiet
face grew alive with rage.

" Search and see," he said, " if the captain of the
Bees is alive and unhurt."

Messengers went to do his bidding, and presently
they returned, bringing with them a man of magni-
ficent appearance and middle age, whose left arm
had been broken by a blow from a kerry. With his
right hand he saluted first the King, then the Prince

THE FEAST OF THE FIRST-FRUITS 59

Nodwengo, a kindly-faced, mild-eyed man, in whose
command he was.

" What have you to say ? " asked the King, in a
cold yoice of anger. " Know you that you have cost
me ten head of the royal white cattle ? "

" King, I have nothing to say," answered the
captain calmly, " except that my men are cowards."

"That is certainly so," said the King. "Let all
the wounded among them be carried away ; and for
you, captain, who turn my soldiers into cowards,
you shall die a dog's death, hanging to-morrow on
the Tree of Doom. As for your regiment, I banish
it to the, fever country, there to hunt elephants,
for three years, since it is not fit to fight with men."

" It is well," replied the captain, " since death is
better than shame ; only, King, I have done you
good service in the past, I ask that it may be presently
and by the spear."

" So be it," said the King.

" I crave his life, father," said- the Prince
Nodwengo ; " he is my friend."

" A prince should not choose cowards for his
friends," replied the King ; " let him be killed, I
say."

Then Owen, who had been watching and listening,
his heart sick with horror, stood forward and said :

" King, in the name of Him I serve, I conjure
you to spare this man and those others who are
hurt, who have done no crime except to be driven
back by soldiers stronger than themselves."

"Messenger," answered the King, "I bear .with

60 THE WIZARD

you because you are ignorant. Know that, according
to our customs, this crime is the greatest of crimes,
for here we show no mercy to the conquered."

" Yet you should do so," said Owen, " seeing that
you also must ere long be conquered by death,
and then how can you expect mercy who have
shown none ? "

"Let him be killed ! " said the King.

" King ! " cried Owen once more, " do this deed,
and I tell you that before the sun is down great
evil will overtake you."

" Do you threaten me, Messenger ? Well, we
will see. Let him be killed, I say."

Then the rftan was led away ;. but, before he went
he found time to thank Owen and Nodwengo the
Prince, and to call down good fortune upon them.

CHAPTER VI

THE DRINKING OF THE CUP

Now the King's word was done, the anger went
out of his eyes and once more his countenance grew
weary. A command was issued, and, with the most
perfect order, moving like one man, the regiments
changed their array, forming up battalion upon
battalion in face of the King, that they might give
him the royal salute so soon as he had drunk the cup
of the first-fruits.

A herald stood forth and cried :

" Hearken, you Sons of Fire ! Hearken, you
Children of Umsuka, Shaker of the Earth ! Have
any of you a boon to ask of the King ? "

Men stood forward, and, having saluted, one by
one asked this thing or that. The King heard their
requests, and as he nodded or turned his head away,
so they were granted or refused.

When all had done the Prince Hafela came forward,
lifted his spear, and cried :

" A boon, King ! "

" What is it ? " asked his father, eyeing him
curiously.

" A small matter, King," he replied. " A while

61 4

62 THE WIZARD

ago I named a certain woman, Noma, the ward of
Hokosa the wizard, and she was sealed to me to fill
the place of my first wrife, the Queen that is to be.
She passed into the House of the Royal Women, and,
by your command, King, it was fixed that I should
marry her according to our customs to-morrow, after
the Feast of the First-fruits is ended. King, my
heart is changed towards that woman ; I no longer
desire to take her to wife, and I pray that you will
order that she shall now be handed back to Hokosa,
her guardian."

" You blow hot and cold with the same mouth,
Hafela," said Umsuka, " and in love or war I do not
like such men. What have you to say to this
demand, Hokosa ? "

Now Hokosa stepped forward from where he stood
at the head of the Company of Wizards. His dress,
like that of his companions, was simple, but in its
way striking. On his shoulders he wore a cloak of
shining snakeskin ; about his loins was a short kilt
of the same material ; and round his forehead, arms,
and knees were fillets of snakeskin. At his side hung
his pouch of medicines, and in his hand he held no
spear, but a wand of ivory, whereof the top was
roughly carved so as to resemble the head of a cobra
reared up to strike.

" King," he said, " I have heard the words of the
Prince, and I do not think that this insult should
have been put upon the lady Noma, my ward, or
upon me, her guardian ; still, let it be, for I would
not that one should pass from under the shadow

THE DRINKING OF THE CUP 63

of my house whither she is not welcome. Without
my leave the Prince named this woman as his Queen,
as he had the right to do ; and without my leave he
unnames her, as he has the right to do. Were the
Prince a common man, according to custom he should
pay a fine of cattle to be held by me in trust for her
whom he discards ; but this is a matter that I leave
to you, King."

" You do well, Hokosa," answered Umsuka, " to
leave this to me. Prince, you would not wish the
fine that you should pay to be that of any common
man. With the girl shall be handed over two
hundred head of cattle. More, I will do justice :
unless she herself consents, she shall not be put
away. Let the lady Noma be summoned."

No\v the face of Hafela grew sullen, and watching,
Owen saw a swift change pass over that of Hokosa.
Evidently he was not quite certain of the woman.
Presently there was a stir, and from the gates of the
Royal House the lady Noma appeared, attended by
women, and stood before the King. She was a tall
and lovely girl, and the sunlight flashed upon her
bronze-hued breast and her ornaments of ivory. Her
black hair was fastened in a knot upon her neck, her
features were fine and small, her gait was delicate and
sure as that of an antelope, and her eyes were beautiful
and full of pride. There she stood before the King,
looking round her like a stag. Seeing her thus,
Owen understood how it came about that she held
two men so strangely different in the hollow of her
hand, for her charm was of a nature to appeal to

64 THE WIZARD

both of them— a charm of the spirit as well as of the
flesh. And yet the face was haughty, a face that
upon occasion might even become cruel.

" You sent for me and I am here, O King," she
said, in a slow and quiet voice.

" Listen, girl," answered the King. " A while ago
the Prince Hafela, my son, named you as her who
should be his Queen, whereon you were taken and
placed in the House of the Royal Women, to abide
the day of your marriage, which should be to-morrow."

" It is true that the Prince has honoured me thus,
and that you have been pleased to approve his
choice," she said, lifting her eyebrows. " What of it,

0 King ? "

" This, girl : the Prince who was pleased to honour
you is now pleased to dishonour you. Here, in the
presence of the Council and army, he prays me
to annul his sealing to you, and to send you back to
the house of your guardian, Hokosa the wizard."

Noma started, and her face grew hard.

" Is it so ? " she said. " Then it would seem that

1 have lost favour in the eyes of my lord the Prince,
or that some fairer* woman has found it."

" Of these matters I know nothing," replied the
King ; " but this I know, that if you seek justice
you shall have it. Say but the word, and he to
whom you were promised in marriage shall take
you in marriage, whether he wills or wills it not."

At this speech, the face of Hafela was suddenly
lit up as with the fire of hope, while over that of
Hokosa there passed another subtle change. The

THE DRINKING OF THE CUP 65

girl glanced at them both and was silent for a while.
Her breast heaved arid her white teeth bit upon her
lip. To Owen, who noted all, it was clear that rival
passions were struggling in her heart, the passion of
power and the passion of love, or of some emotion
which he did not understand. Hokosa fixed his calm
eyes upon her with a strange intensity of gaze, and
while he gazed his form quivered with a suppressed
excitement, much as a snake quivers that is about
to strike its prey. To the careless eye there was
nothing remarkable about his look and attitude ;
to the observer it was evident that both were full of
extraordinary purpose. He was talking to the girl,
not with words, but in some secret language that he
and she understood alone. She started as one starts
who cat nes the tone of a well-remembered voice
in a crowd of strangers, and lifting her eyes from the
ground, whither she had turned them in meditation,
she looked up at Hokosa. Instantly her face began
to change — the haughtiness and anger went out of it,
it grew troubled, the* lips parted in a sigh. First she
bent her head and body towards him, then without
more ado she walked to where he stood and took
'him by the hand. Here, at some whispered word
or sign, she seemed to recover herself, and again
resuming the character of a proud, offended beauty,
she curtsied to Umsuka, and spoke :

" O King, as you see, I have made my choice.
I will not force myself upon a man who scorns me,
no, not even to share his place and power, though
it is true that I love them both. Nay, I will return

66 THE WIZARD

I

to Hokosa, my guardian, and to his wife, Zinti, who
has been as my mother, and with them be at peace." -

"It is well," said 'the . King, "and perhaps, girl,
your choice is wise ; perhaps your loss is not so
great as you have thought. Hafela, take you the
hand of Hokosa and release the girl back to him
according to the law, promising in the ears of men
before the first month of winter to pay him two
hundred head of cattle as forfeit, to be held by him
in trust for the girl."

In a sullen voice, his lips trembling with rage,
Hafela did as the King commanded ; and when
their hands unclasped, Owen perceived that in that
of the Prince lay a tiny packet.

" Mix me the cup of the first-fruits, and swiftly,"
said the King again ; " for the sun grows low in the
heavens, and ere it sinks I have words to say."

Now a polished gourd filled with native beer was
handed to Nodwengo, the second son of the King,
and one by one the great councillors approached, and
with appropriate words, let fall into it offerings
emblematic of fertility and increase. The first cast
in a grain of corn ; the second, a blade of grass ; the
third, a shaving from an ox's horn ; the fourth, a drop
of water ; the fifth, a woman's hair ; the sixth, a
particle of earth ; and so on, until every ingredient
was added to it that was necessary to the magic brew.
Then Hokosa, as chief of the medicine men, blessed
the cup according to the ancient form, praying
that he whose body was the heavens, whose eyes
were lightning, and whose voice was thunder, tile

THE DRINKING OF THE CUP 67

spirit whom they worshipped, might increase and
multiply to them, during the coming year, all those
fruits and elements that were present in the cup,
and that every virtue which they contained might
comfort the body of the King.

His prayer finished, it was the turn of Hafela to
play his part as the eldest born of the King. Kneel-
ing over the cup which stood upon the ground, a
spear was handed to him that had been made red
hot in the fire. Taking the spear, he stabbed with it
towards the four corners of the horizon ; then,
muttering some invocation, he plunged it into the
bowl, stirring its contents till the iron grew black.
Now he threw aside the spear, and lifting the bowl
in both hands, he carried it to his father and offered
it to him.

Although he had been unable to see him drop
the poison into the cup, a glance at Hafela told
Owen that it was there; for though he kept his
face under control, he could not prevent his hands
from twitching or the sweat from starting upon his
brow and breast.

The King rose, and taking the bowl, held it on
high, saying :

" In this cup, which I drink on behalf of the nation,
I pledge you, my people."

It was the signal for the royal salute, for which
each regiment had been prepared. As the last word
left his lips, every one of the thirty thousand men
present in that great place began to rattle his kerry
against the surface of his ox-hide shield. At first the

68 THE WIZARD

sound produced resembled that of the murmur of the
sea ; but by slow and just degrees it grew louder
and ever louder, till the roar of it was like the
deepest voice of thunder, an awe-inspiring, terrible
sound.

Suddenly, when its volume was most, four spears
were thrown into the air, and at the signal every man
ceased to beat upon his shield. In the place itself
there was silence, but from the mountains around the
echoes still crashed and volleyed. When the last
of them had died away, the King brought the cup
to the level of his lips. Owen saw, and knowing its
contents, was almost moved to cry out in warning.
Indeed, his arm was lifted and his mouth was open,
when by chance he noted Hokosa watching him, and
remembered. To act now would be madness, his
time had not yet come.

The cup touched the King's lips, and at the sign,
from every throat in that countless multitude sprang
the word " King ! " and every foot stamped upon the
ground, shaking the solid earth. Thrice the monarch
drank, and thrice this tremendous salute, the salute
of the whole nation to its ruler, was repeated, each
time more loudly than the last. Then pouring the
rest of the liquour on the ground, Umsuka cast aside
the cup and in the midst of a silence that seemed
deep after the crash of the great salute, he began to
address the multitude :

" Hearken, Councillors and Captains, and you,
my people, hearken. As you know, I have two sons,
the calves of the Black Bull, the Princes of the land

THE DRINKING OF THE CUP

69

—my son Hafela, the eldest born, and my son

Nodwengo, his half-brother—-
At this point the King seemed to grow confused.

He hesitated, passed his hand over his eyes, then

slowly and with difficulty repeated those words which

he had already said.

" We hear you, Father," cried the Councillors, in

encouragement, as for the second time he paused.

While they still spoke, the veins in the King's neck

were seen to swell suddenly, foam flecked with blood

burst from his lips, and he fell headlong to the

ground.

CHAPTER VII

THE RECOVERY OF THE KING

FOR a moment there was silence, then a great cry
arose — a cry of " Our father is dead ! " Presently
with it were mingled other and angrier shouts of
" The King is murdered ! " and " He is bewitched,
the white wizard has bewitched the King ! He
prophesied evil upon him, and now he has bewitched
him ! "

Meanwhile the captains and councillors formed
a ring about Umsuka, and Hokosa bending over him
examined him.

" Princes and Councillors," he said presently, " your
father yet lives, but his life is like the life of a dying
fire and soon he must be dead. This is sure, that
one of two things has befallen him,- either the heat
has caused the blood to boil in his*veins and he is
smitten with a stroke from Heaven, such as men who
are fat and heavy sometimes die of ; or he has been
bewitched by a wicked wizard. Yonder stands one."
and he pointed to Owen, " who not an hour ago
prophesied that before the sun was down great evil
should overtake the King. The sun is not yet
down, and great evil has overtaken him. Perchance,
70

THE RECOVERY OF THE KING 71

Princes and Councillors, this white Prophet can tell
us of the matter/'

" Perchance I can," answered Owen, calmly.

" He admits it ! " cried some. " Away with him ! "

" Peace ! " said Owen, holding the crucifix towards
those whose spears threatened his life.

They shrank back, for this symbol of a dying man
terrified them who could not guess its significance.

" Peace," went on Owen, " and listen. Be sure
of this, Councillors, that if I die, your King \viJl die ;
whereas if I live, your King may live. You ask me
of this matter. Where shall I begin ? Shall I begin
with the tale of two men seated together three nights
ago in a hut so dark that no eyes could see in it, save
perchance the eyes of a wizard ? What did they
talk of in that hut, and who were those men ? They
talked, I think, of the death of a king arid of the
crowning of a king; they talked of a price to be
paid for a certain medicine ; and one of them hud a
royal air, and one -

" Will ye hearken to this wild bubbler while your
King lies dying before your eyes ? "broke in Hokosa,
in a shrill, unnatural voice ; for, almost puisied with
fear as he was at Owen's mysterious words, he still
retained his presence of mind. "Listen now : what is
he, and what did he say ? He is one who comes
hither to prear] i a new faith to us ; he comes, he says,
on an embassy from the King of Heaven, who has
power over all things, and who, so these white men
preach, can give power to His servants. Well, let
Iliis one cease prating and show us his strength, as

72 THE WIZARD

he has been warned he would be called upon to do.
Let him give us a sign. There before you lies your
King, and he is past the help of man ; even I cannot
help him. Therefore, let this Messenger cure him,
or call upon his God to cure him ; that seeing, we
may know him to be a true Messenger, and one sent
by that King of whom he speaks. Let him do this
now before our eyes, or let him perish as a wizard
who has bewitched the King. Do you hear my
words, Messenger, and can you draw this one back
from the Gates of Death ? "

" I hear them," answered Owen, quietly ; " and
I can — or if I cannot, then I am willing to pay the
penalty with my life. You who are a doctor say
that your King is as one who is already dead, so
that whatever I may do I cannot hurt him further.
Therefore I ask this of you, that you stand round
and watch, but molest me neither by word nor deed
while I attempt his cure. Do you consent ? "

"It is just; we consent," said the Councillors.
" Let us see what the white man can do, and by
the issue let him be judged." But Hokosa stared
at Owen wondering, and made no answer.

" Bring some clean water to me in a gourd," said
Owen.

It was brought and given to him. He looked
round, searching the faces of those about him.
Presently his eye fell upon the Prince Nodwengo,
and he beckoned to him, saying :

" Come hither, Prince ; for you are honest, and
I would have you to help me, and no other man/'

THE RECOVERY OF THE KING 73

The Prince stepped forward and Owen gave him
the gourd of water. Then he drew out the little
bottle wherein he had stored the juice of the creeper,
and, uncorking it, he bade Nodwengo fill it up with
water. This done, he clasped his hands, and lifting
his eyes to Heaven, he prayed aloud in the language
of the Amasuka.

" O God," he prayed, " upon whose business I
am here, grant, I beseech Thee, that by Thy Grace
power may be given to me to work this miracle in
the face of these people, to the end that I may win
them to cease from their iniquities, to believe upon
Thee, the only true God, and to save their souls
alive. Amen."

Having finished his prayer, he took the bottle
and shook it ; then he commanded Nodwengo to
sit upon the ground and hold his father's head upon
his knee. Now, as all might see by many signs,
the King was upon the verge of death, for his face
was purple, his breathing rare and stertorous, and
his heart well-nigh still.

"Open his mouth and hold down the tongue,"
said Owen.

The Prince obeyed, pressing down the tongue with
a snuff-spoon. Then placing the neck of the bottle
as far into the throat as it would reach, Owen poured
the fluid it contained into the body of the King,
who made a convulsive movement and instantly
seemed to die.

" He is do£,d," said one ; " away with the false
prophet ! "

74 THE WIZARD

" It may be so, or it may not be so," answered
Owen. "Wait for the half of an hour; then, if
he shows no sign of life, do what you will with me."

" It is well," they said ; " so be it."

Slowly the minutes slipped by, while the King
lay like a corpse before them, and outside of that
silent ring the soldiers murmured as the wind. The
sun \vas sinking fast, and Hokosa watched it, counting
the seconds. At length he spoke :

" The half of the hour that you demanded is dead,
White Man, as dead as the King ; and now the time
has come for you to die also," and he stretched out
his hand to take him.

Owen looked at his watch, and replied :

" There is still another minute ; and you, Hokosa,
who are skilled in medicines, may know that this
antidote does not work so swiftly as the bane."

The shot was a random one, but it told, for Hokosa
fell back and was silent.

The seconds passed on as the minute hand of the
watch went round from ten to twenty, from twenty
to thirty, from thirty to forty. A few more instants
and the game was played. Had that dream of his
been vain imagining, and was all his faith nothing
but a dream ? Owen wondered. Well, if so, it
would be best that he should die. But he did not
believe that it was so, he believed that the power
above him would intervene to save — not him, indeed,
but all this people.

" Let us make an end," said Hokosa, " the time
is done."

THE RECOVERY OF THE KING 75

" Yes," said Owen, " the time is done — and the
King lives ! "

Even as he spoke the pulses in the old man's
forehead were seen to throb, and the veins of his neck
to swell as they had. swollen after he swallowed the
poison ; then once more they shrank to their natural
size. Umsuka stirred a hand, groaned, sat up, and
spoke :

" What has chanced to me ? " he said. " I have
descended into deep darkness, now once again I
see light."

No one answered, for all were staring, terrified and
amazed, at the Messenger — the white wizard to whom
had been given power to bring men back from the
gate of death. At length Owen said :

[< This has chanced to you, King : that evil which
I prophesied to you if you refused to listen to the
voice of mercy has fallen upon you. By now you
would have been dead, had it not pleased Him Whom
I serve, working through me, His messenger, to
bring you. back to look upon the sun. Thank Him,
therefore, and worship Him, for He alone is Master,
of the Earth," and he held the crucifix before his
eyes.

The humbled monarch lifted his hand — he who
for many years had made obeisance to none — and
saluted the symbol, saying :

" Messenger, I thank Him and I worship Him,
though I know Him not. Say now, how did His
magic work upon me to make me sick to death and
to recover me ? "

76 THE WIZARD

" By the hand of man, King, and by the virtues
that lie hid in Nature. Did you not drink of a cup,
and were not many things mixed in the draught ?
Was it not but now in your mind to speak words
that should bring down the head of pride and evil,
and lift up the head of truth and goodness ? "

" O, White Man, how know you these things ? "
gasped the King.

" I know them, it is enough. Say, who was it
that stirred the bowl, King, and gave you to drink
of it ? "

Now Umsuka staggered to his feet, aitd cried
aloud in a voice that was thick with rage :

" By my head and the heads of my fathers I smell
the plot ! My son, the Prince Hafela, had learned
my counsel, and would have slain me before I said
words that should set him beneath the feet of
Nodwengo. Seize him, captains, and let him be
brought before me for judgment ! "

Men looked this way and that to carry out the
command of the King, but Hafela was gone. Already
he was upon the hillside, running as a man has rarely
run before, his face set towards his fastness in the
mountains where he could find refuge among his
mother's tribesmen and the army that he commanded,
which of late had been sent thither by the King that
they might be far from the Great Place when their
Prince was disinherited.

" He is fled," said one ; " I saw him go."

" Pursue him and bring him back, dead or alive ! "
thundered the King. " A hundred head of cattle to

THE RECOVERY OF THE KING 77

the man who lays hand upon him before he reaches
the impi of the north, for they will fight for him !*'

" Stay ! " broke in Owen. " Once before this day
I prayed of you, King, to show mercy, and you
refused it. Will you refuse me a second time. Leave
him his life who has lost all else."

" That he may rebel against me. Well, White
Man, I owe you much, and for this time your wisdom
shall be my guide, though my heart speaks against
this gentleness. Hearken, councillors and people,
this is my decree : that Hafela, my son, who would
have murdered me, be deposed from his place as
heir to my throne, and that Nodwengo, his brother,
be set in that place, to rule the People of Fire after
me when I die."

" It is good", it is just ! " said the Council. " Let
the King's word be done."

" Hearken .again," said Umsuka. " Let this white
man, who is named Messenger, be placed in the House
of Guests and treated with all honour ; let oxen be
given him from the royal herds and corn from the
granaries, and girls of noble blood for wives if he
wills them. Hokosa, into your hand I deliver him,
and, great though you are, know this, that if but a hair
of his head is harmed, with your goods and your life
you shall answer for it, you and all your house/'

" Let the King's word be done," said the Councillors
again.

" Heralds," went on Umsuka, " proclaim that the
Feast of the First-fruits is ended, and my command
is that every regiment should seek its quarters, taking

78 THE WIZARD

with it a double gift of cattle from the King, who has
been saved alive by the magic of the white man.
And now, Messenger, farewell, for my head grows
heavy. To-morrow I will speak with you."

Then the King was led away into the royal house,
and save those who were quartered in it, the regi-
ments passed one by one through the gates of the
kraal, singing their v/ar-song as they went. Darkness
fell upon the Great Place, and through it parties of
men might be seen dragging away the corpses of
those who had fallen in the fight with sticks, or been
put to death thereafter by order of the King.

" Messenger," said Hokosa, bowing before Owen,
"will you be pleased to follow me ?'" and he led him
to a little kraal numbering five or six large and
beautifully-made huts, which stood by itself, within
its own fence, at the north end of the Great Place,
not far from the house of the King. In front of the
centre hut a fire was burning, and by its light women
appeared cleaning out the huts and bringing food
and water.

" Here you may rest in safety, Messenger," said
Hokosa, " seeing that night and day a guard from
the King's own regiment will stand before -your
doors."

" I do not need them," answered Owen, " for none
can harm me till my hour comes. I am a stranger
here and you are a great man ; yet, Hokosa, which
of us is the safest this night ? "

" Your meaning ? " said Hokosa sharply.

" O, man ! " answered Owen, " when in a certain

THE RECOVERY OF THE KING 79

hour you crept up the valley yonder, and climbing
the Tree of Death gathered its poison, Went I not
with you ? When, before that hour, you sat in
yonder hut bargaining with the Prince Hafela — the
death of a king for the price of a girl — was I not with
you ? Nay, threaten me not — in your own words I
say it — ' lay aside that spear, or your body shall be
thrown to the kites/ as one who would murder the
King and the King's guest ! "

" White Man," whispered Hokosa, " how can these
things be ? I was alone in the hut with the Prince,
I was alone beneath the Tree of Doom, and you, as
I know well, were beyond the river. Your spies
must be good, White Man."

" My spirit is my only spy, Hokosa. My spirit
watched you, and from your own lips he learned the
secret of the bane and of the antidote. Hafela
mixed the poison as you taught him; I gave the
remedy and saved the King alive."

Now the knees of Hokosa grew weak beneath him,
and he leaned against the fence of the kraal for
support.

" I have skill in the art," he said, hoarsely ; " but,
Messenger, your magic is more than mine, and my
life is forfeit to you. To-morrow morning you will
tell the King all, and to-morrow night I shall hang
upon the Dreadful Tree. Well, so be it ; I am
overmatched at my own trade, and it is best that I
should die. You have plotted well and you have
conquered, and to you belong my place and power."

" It was you who plotted, and not I, Hokosa.

80 THE WIZARD

Did you not contrive that I should reach the Great
Place but $. little before the poison was given to the
King, so that upon me might be laid the crime of
bewitching him ? Did you not plan also* that I
should be called upon to cure him — a thing you
deemed impossible, — and when I failed that I should
be straightway butchered ? "

" Seeing that it is useless to lie to you, I confess
that it was so," answered Hokosa, boldly.

" It was so," repeated Owen ; " therefore according
to your law your life is forfeit, seeing that you dug
a pit to snare the feet of the innocent. But I come
to tell you of a new law, and that which I preach I
practise. Hokosa, I pardon you, and if you will put
aside your evil-doing, I promise you that no word of
all your wickedness shall pass my lips."

"It has not been my -fashion to take a boon at
the hand of any man, save of the King only/' said
the wizard, in a humble voice ; " but now it seems
that I am come to it. Tell me, White Man, what
is the payment that you seek from me ? "

" None, Hokosa, except that you cease from evil
and listen with an open heart to that message which
I am come to deliver to you and to all your nation.
Also you would do well to put away that fair woman
whose price was the murder of him that fed you."

" I cannot do it," answered the wizard. " I will
listen to your teaching, but I will not rob my heart
of her it craves alone. White Man, I am not like
the rest of my nation. I have not sought after
women ; I have but one wife, and she is old and

THE RECOVERY OF THE KING 81

childless! Now, for the first time in my days, I
love this girl — ah, you know not how ! — and I
will take her, and she shall be the mother of my
children."

" Then, Hokosa, you will take her to your sorrow,"
answered Owen, solemnly, " for she will learn to hate
you who have robbed her of royalty and rule, giving
her wizardries and your grey hairs in place of them."
And thus for that night they parted.

CHAPTER VIII

4»

THE FIRST TRIAL BY FIRE

i ON the following day, while Owen sat eating his
morning meal with a thankful heart, a messenger
arrived saying that the King would receive him
whenever it pleased him to come. He answered
that he would be with him before noon, for already
he had learned that with natives one loses little
by delay. A great man, they think, is rich in time
and hurries only to wait upon his superiors. At
the appointed hour a guard came to lead him to
the royal house, and thither he went followed by
John bearing a Bible. Umsuka was seated beneath
a reed roof supported by poles and open on all sides ;
behind him stood councillors and attendants, and
by him were Nodwengo the Prince, and Hokosa,
his Mouth and Prophet. Although the day was
hot he wore a kaross or rug of catskins, and his
face showed that the effects of the poisoned draught
were still upon him. At the approach of Owen he
rose with something of an effort, and, shaking him
by the hand, thanked him for his life, calling him
" Doctor of Doctors."

" Tell me, Messenger," he added, " how it was

82

THE FIRST TRIAL BY FIRE 83

that you were able to cure me and who were in the
plot to kill me ? There must have been more
than one," and he rolled his eyes round with angry
suspicion.

" King," answered Owen, " if I knew anything
of this matter, the Power that wrote it on my mind
has wiped it out again, or, at the least, has forbidden
me to speak of it. I saved you, it is enough ; for
the rest, the past is the past, and I come to deal
with the present and the future."

" This white man keeps his word," thought Hokosa
to himself, and he looked at him thanking him with
his eyes.

" So be it," answered the King ; " after all, it is
wise not to stir a dungheap, for there we find little
beside evil odours and nests of snakes. Now, what
is your business with me and why do you come
from the white man's countries to visit me ? I have
heard of those countries, they are great and far away.
I have heard of the white men also — wonderful men
who have all knowledge ; but I do not desire to have
anything to do with them, for whenever they jneet
black peoples they eat them up, taking their lands
and making them slaves. Once, some years ago,
two of you white people visited us here, but perhaps
you know that story."

" I know it," answered Owen : " one of those men
you murdered, and the other you sent back with a
s message which he delivered into my ears across the
waters, thousands offmiles away."

" Nay," answered the King, " we did not murder

84 THE WIZARD

him ; he came to us with the story of a new God
who could raise the dead and work other miracles,
and gave such powers to His servants. So a man
was slain and we begged of him to bring him back
to life ; and since he could not, we killed him also
because he was a liar."

" He was no liar," said Owen ; " since he never
told you that he had powrer to open the mouth of
the grave. Still, Heaven is merciful, and although
you murdered him that was sent to you, his Master
has chosen me to follow in his footsteps. Me also
you may murder if you will, and then another and
another ; but still the messengers shall come, till
at last your ears are opened and you listen. Only,
for such deeds your punishment must be heavy."

" What is the message, White Man ? "

"A message of peace, of forgiveness, and of life
beyond the grave, of life everlasting. Listen, King.
Yesterday you were near to death : say now, had
you stepped over the edge of it, where would you
be this day ? "

Umsuka shrugged his shoulders. "With my
fathers, White Man."

" And where are your fathers ? "

" Nay, I know not — nowhere, everywhere : the
night is full of them ; in 'the night we hear the echo
of their voices. When they are angry they haunt
the thunder-cloud, and when they are pleased they
smile in the sunshine. Sometimes also they appear
in the shape of snakes, or visit us'in dreams, and then
we offer them sacrifice. Yonder on the hillside

THE FIRST TRIAL BY FIRE 85

is a haunted wood ; it is full of their spirits, White
Man, but they cannot talk, they only mutter, and
their footfalls sound like the dropping of heavy rain,
for *they are strengthless and unhappy, and in the
end they fade away."

" So you say," answered Owen, " who are not
altogether without understanding, yet know little,
never having been taught. Now listen to me," and
very earnestly he preached to him andAhose about
him of peace, of forgiveness, and of life everlasting.

" Why should a God die miserably upon a cross ? "
asked the King at length.

" That through His sacrifice men might become
;nds," answered Owen. " Believe in Him and
He will save you."

" How £.an we do that," asked the King again,
" when already we have a god ? Can we desert one
god and set up another ? "

" What god, King ? "

" I will show him to you, White Man. Let my
litter be brought."

The litter was brought and the King entered it.

Passing through the north gate of the Great Place,

the party ascended the slope of the hill that lay

beyond it till they reached a flat plain some hundreds

of yards in width. On this plain vegetation grew

scantily, for here the bed rock of ironstone, denuded

by frequent and heavy rains, was scarcely hidden

by a thin crust of earth. On the farther side of the

'•plain, however, and separated from it by a little

•an, was a green bank of deep soft soil, beyond

86 THE WIZARD

which lay a gloomy valley full of great trees, that
for many generations had been the burying-place
of the kings of the Amasuka.

"This is the house of the god/' said the King*

" A strange house," answered Owen, " and where
is he that dwells in it ? "

" Follow me and I will show you, Messenger ;
but be swift, for already the sky grows dark with
the coming tempest."

Now at the King's command the bearers bore
him across the sere plateau towards an object tliat
lay almost in its centre. Presently they halted,
and, pointing to this object, the King said :

" Behold the god ! "

Owen advanced and examined it. A glance told
him that this god of the Amasuka was a meteoric
stone of unusual size. Most of such stones are mere
shapeless lumps, but this one bore a peculiar resem-
blance to a seated human being holding up one arm
towards the sky. So strange was this resemblance
that, other reasons apart, it was not wonderful that
savages should regard the object with awe and
veneration. Rather would it have been wonderful
had they not done so.

" Say now," said Owen to the King when he had
examined the stone, " what is the history of this
dumb god of yours, and why do you worship him ? "

" Follow me across the stream and I will tell
you, Messenger," answered the King, again glancing
at the sky. " The storm gathers, and when it breaks
none are safe upon this plain except the heaven

THE FIRST TRIAL BY FIRE 87

* doctors such as Hokosa and his companions who can
bind the lightning."

When they reached the farther side of the stream
Umsuka descended from his litter and said :

" Messenger,x this is the story of the god as it has
come down to us. From the beginning our land has
been scourged witli lightning above all other lands,
and with the Hoods of rain that accompany the
lightning. In the old days the Great Place of the
King was out yonder among the mountains, but every
year fire from heaven fell upon it, destroying much
people ; and at length in a great tempest the house
of the King of that day was smitten and burned,
and his wives and children were turned to ashes.
Then that King held a council of his wizards and
fire-doctors, and these having consulted the spirits
of their forefathers, retired into a place apart to
and pray ; yes, it was in yonder valley, the
burying-ground of kings, that they hid themselves.
Now on the third night the God of Fire appeared to
the chief of the doctors in his sleep, and he was
shaped like a burning brand and smoke went up
from him. Out of the smoke he spoke to the doctor,
saying : ' For this reason it is that I torment your
people, because they hate me and curse at me and
pay me little honour/

" In his dream the doctor answered : ' How can
the people honour a god that they do not see ? '
Then the god said : ' Rise up now in the night,
all the company of you, and go take your stand
upon the banks of yonder stream, and I will fall

88 THE WIZARD

down in fire from heaven, and there on the plain*
you shall find my image. Then let your King move
his Great Place into the valley beneath the plain,
and henceforth my bolts shall spare it. Only, month
by month you shall make prayers and offerings to
me ; moreover, the name of the people shall be
changed, for it shall be called the People of
Fire/

" Now the doctor rose, and having awakened his
companions, he told them of his vision. Then
they all of them went down to the banks of the
stream where we now stand. And as they waited
there a great tempest burst over them, and in the
midst of the tempest they sawr the flaming figure
of a man descend from Heaven, and the earth shook
when he touched it. The morning came and there
upon the plain before them, where there had been
nothing, sat the likeness of the god. So the name .
of the people was changed, and the King's Great
Place was built where it now is. Since that day,
Messenger, no hut has been burned and no man killed
in or about the Great Place by fire from Heaven,
which falls only here where the god is, though away
among the mountains and elsewhere men are some-
times killed. But wait awhile and you shall see
with your eyes. Hokosa, do you, whom the lightning
will not touch, take that pole of dead wood and set
it up yonder in the crevice of the rock not far from
the figure of the god."

" I obey," said Hokosa, " although I have brought
no medicines with me. Perhaps," he added with a

THE FIRST TRIAL BY FIRE 89

faint sneer, " the white man, who is so great a wizard,
will not be afraid to accompany me."

Now Owen saw that all those present were looking
at him curiously. It was evident they believed that
he would not dare to accept the challenge. Therefore
he answered at once and without hesitation :

" Certainly I will come ; the pole is heavy for one
man to carry, and where Hokosa goes, there I can
go also."

" Nay, nay, Messenger," said the King ; " the
lightning knows Hokosa and will turn from him,
but you are a stranger to it and it will eat you up."

" King," answered Owen, " I ¥do not believe that
Hokosa has any power over the lightning. It may
strike him or it may strike me ; but unless my God
so commands, it will strike neither of us."

" On your head be it, White Man," said Hokosa,
with cold anger. " Come, aid me with the pole."

Then they lifted the dead tree, and between them
rnrried it into the middle 'of the plain, where they set
it up in a crevice of the rock. By this time the storm
was almost over them, and watching it Owen per-
ceived that the lightnings struck always along the
bank of the stream, doubtless following the hidden
line of the bed of ironstone.

" It is but a very little storm," said Hokosa, con-
temptuously, " such as visit us every afternoon at
this period of the year. Ah ! White Man, I would
that you could see one of our great tempests, for
these are well worth beholding. This I fear, however,
that you will never do, seeing it is likely that within

90 THE WIZARD

some few minutes you will have passed back to that
King who sent you here, with a hole in your head
and a black mark clown your spine."

" That we shall learn presently, Hokosa," answered
Owen ; " for my part, I pray that no such fate may
overtake you."

Now Hokosa moved himself away, muttering and
pointing with his fingers, but Owen remained standing
within about thirty yards of the pole. Suddenly
there came a glare of light, and the pole was split
into fragments ; but although the shock was percep-
tible, they remained unhurt. Almost immediately
a second flash leap^ferom the cloud, and Owen saw
Hokosa stagger and fall to his knees. " The man is
struck," he thought to himself, but it was not so, for
recovering his balance, the wizard walked back to
the stream.

Owen never stirred. From boyhood courage had
been one of his good qualities, but it was a courage of
the spirit rather than of the flesh. For instance, at
this very moment, so far as his body was concerned,
he was much afraid, and did not in the least enjoy
standing upon an ironstone plateau at the imminent
risk of being destroyed by lightning. But even if
he had not had an end to gain, he would have scorned
to give way to his human frailties ; also, now as
always, his faith supported him. As it happened the
storm, which was slight, passed by, and no more
flashes fell. When it was over he walked back to
where the King and his court were standing.

"Messenger," said Umsuka, " you are not only

THE FIRST TRIAL BY FIRE 91

a great doctor, you are also a brave man, and such
I honour. There is no one among us here, not being
a lord of the lightning, who would have dared to
stand upon that place with Hokosa while the flashes
fell about him. Yet you have done it ; it was
Hokosa who was driven away. You have passed the
trial by fire, and henceforth, whether we refuse your
message or accept it, you are great in this land."

" There is no need to praise me, King," answered
Owen. " The risk is something ; but I knew that I
was protected from it, seeing that I shall not die
until my hour comes, and it is not yet. Listen now :
your god yonder is nothing but a stone such as I have
often seen before, for sometimes in great tempests
they come to earth from the clouds. You are not
the first people that have worshipped such a stone,
but now we know better. Also this plain before you
is full of iron, and iron draws the lightning. That
is why it never strikes your town below. The iron
attracts it more strongly than earth and huts of
straw. Again, while the pole stood I was in little
danger, for the lightning strikes the highest thing ;
but after the pole was shattered and Hokosa wisely
went away, then I was in some danger, only no
flashes fell. I am not a magician, King, but I know
some things that you do not know, and I trust in
One whom I shall lead you to trust in also."

"We will talk of this more hereafter," said the
King, hurriedly ; " for one day, I have heard and
seen enough. Also I do not believe your words,
for I have noted ever that those who are the greatest

92 THE WIZARD

wizards of all say continually that they have no
magic power. Hokosa, you have been famous in
your day, but it seems that henceforth you who have
led must follow."

" The battle is not yet fought, King," answered
Hokosa. " To-day I met the lightnings without my
medicines, and it was a little storm ; when I am
prepared with my medicines and the tempest is
great, then I will challenge this white man to face
me yonder, and then in that hour my god shall show
his strength and his God shall not be able to save
him from it."

" That we shall see when the time comes," answered
Owen, with a smiJe.

That night as Owen sat in his hut working at his
translation of St. John, the door wras opened and
Hokosa entered.

" White Man," said the wizard, " you are too strong
for me, though whence you have your power I know
not. Let us make a bargain. Show me your magic
and I will show you mine, and we will rule the land
between us. You and I are much akin — we are
great ; we have the spirit sight ; we know that there
are things beyond the things we see and hear and
feel ; whereas, for the rest, they are fools, following
the flesh alone. I have spoken."

" Very gladly will I show you my magic, Hokaos,"
answered Owen, cheerfully, " since, to speak truth,
though I know you to be wicked, and guess that you
would be glad to be rid of me by fair means or foul ;

THE FIRST TRIAL BY FIRE 93

9

yet I have taken a liking for you, seeing in you one
who from a sinner may grow into a saint. This is
my magic : To love God and serve man ; to eschew
wizardry, wealth, and power ; to seek after holiness,
poverty, and humility ; to deny your flesh, and to
make yourself small in the sight of men, that so
perchance you may grow great in the sight of Heaven
and save your soul alive." %

" I have no stomach for that lesson," said Hokosa.

" Yet you shall live to hunger for it," answered
Owen, and the wizard went away angered but
wondering.

CHAPTER IX

THE CRISIS

Now, day by day, for something over a month
Owen preached the Gospel before the King, his
councillors, and hundreds of- the head men of the
nation. They listened to him attentively, debating
the new doctrine point by point ; for although they
were savages, these people were very keen-witted
and subtle. Very patiently did Owen sow, and at
length to his infinite joy he also gathered in his
first-fruit. One night as he sat in his hut labouiing
as usual at his work of translation, wherein he was
assisted by John, whom he had taught to read and
write, the Prince Nodwengo entered and greeted
him. For a while he sat silent watching the white
man at work, then he said :

" Messenger, I have a boon to ask of you. Can
.you teach me to understand those signs which you
set upon the paper, and to make them also as your
servant does ? "

" Certainly," answered Owen ; " if you will come
to me at noon to-morrow, we will begin."

The Prince thanked him, but he did not go away.
94

THE CRISIS • 95

Indeed, from his manner Owen guessed that he had
something more upon his mind. At length it came
out.

" Messenger," he said, " you have told us of
baptism, whereby we are admitted into the army
of your King ; say, have von the power of this
aite ? "

" I have."

" And is your servant here baptised ? "

" He is."

" Then if he who is a common man can be baptised,
why may not I who am a prince ? "

" In baptism," answered Owen, " there is no dis-
tinction between the highest and the lowest ; but
if you believe, then the door is open, and through it
you can join the company of Heaven."

" Messenger, I do believe," answered the Prince
humbly.

Then Owen was very joyful, and that same night,
with John for a witness, he baptised the Prince,
giving him the new name of Constantine, after the
first Christian emperor.

On the following day Nodwengo, ,in the presence
of Owen, who on this point would suffer no conceal-
ment, announced to the King that he had become a
Christian. U-msuka heard, and for a while sat silent.
Then he said in a troubled voice :

" Truly, Messenger, in the words of that Book
from which you read to us, I fear that you have
come hither ' to bring, not peace but a sword/
Now when the Witch-doctors and the Priests of Fire

96 • THE WIZARD

learn this, that he whom I have chosen to succeed
me has become the servant of another faith, they
will stir up the soldiers and there will be civil war.
I pray you, therefore, keep the matter secret, at any
rate for a while, seeing that the lives of many are at
stake/'

"In this, my father," answered the Prince, "I
must do as the Messenger bids me ; but if you desire
it, fake from me the right of succession and call back
my brother from the northern mountains."

" That by poison or the spear he may put aH of
us to death, Nodwengo ! Be not afraid, ere long
when he learns all that is happening here, your
brother Hafela will come from the northern moun-
tains, and the spears of his impis shall be countless
as the stars of the sky. Messenger, you desire to
draw us to the arms of your God, and myself, I am
at times minded to follow the path of my son
Nodwengo, and seek a refuge there ; but say, will
they be strong enough to protect us from Hafela
and the warriors of the north ? Already he gathers
his clans, and already my captains desert to him.
By and by, in the springtime — may I be dead before
the day — he will roll down upon us like a flood of
water "

" To fall back like waters from a wall of rock,"
answered Owen. " 'Let not your heart be trouble^/
for my Master can protect His servants, and He will
protect you. But first you must confess Him openly,
as your son has done."

" Nay, I am too old to hurry," said the King

THE CRISIS 97

. V

with a sigh. " Your tale seems full of promise to
one who is near the grave ; but how can I know
that it is more than a dream ? And shall I abandon
the worship of my fathers and change, or strive to
change, the customs of my people to follow after
dreams ? Nodwengo has chosen his part, and I
do not blame^ him ; yet, for the present I beseech
you both to keep silence on this matter, lest to
save bloodshed I should be driven to side against
you."

" So be it, King," said Owen ; " but I warn you
that Truth has a loud voice, and that it is hard to
hide the shining of a light in a dark place, nor does
it please my Lord to be denied by those who confess
Him."

"I am weary," replied the old King, and they
saluted him and went.

In obedience to the wish of Umsuka his father,
the conversion of Nodwengo was kept secret, and
yet — none knew how — the truth leaked out. Soon
the women in their huts, and the soldiers by their
watch-fires, whispered it in each other's ears that he
who was appointed to be their future ruler had
become the servant of the unknown God ; that he
had forsworn war and all the delights of men ; that
he would take but one wife, and appear before the
army, not in the uniform of a general, but clad in
a white robe and carry, not the broad spear, but a
cross of wood. Swiftly the strange story flew from
mouth to mouth, yet it was not altogether believed
till it chanced that one day when he was reviewing a

98 THE WIZARD

regiment, a soldier who was .drunk with beer openly
insulted the Prince, calling him a coward who
worshipped a coward.

Now men held their breaths, waiting to see this
fool led away to die by the torture of the ant-heap
or some other dreadful doom. But the Prince only
answered :

" Soldier, you are drunk, therefore I forgive you
your words. Whether He Whom you blaspheme
will forgive you, I know not. Get you gone ! "

The warriors stared and murmured, for by those
words, wittingly or unwittingly, their general had
confessed his faith, and that day they made ribald
songs about him in the camp. But when on the
morrow they learned how that the man whom the
Prince had spared had been seized by a lion and
taken away as he sat with his companions in the
bivouac, his mouth full of boasting of his own
courage, in offering insult to the Prince and the
new faith, then they looked at each other askance
and said little more of the matter. Doubtless it
was chance, and yet this Spirit Whom the Messenger
preached was one of Whom it seemed wisest not to
speak lightly.

But still the trouble grew, for by now the Witch-
doctors, with Hokosa at the head of them, were
frightened for their place and power, and fomented
it openly and in secret. Of the women they asked
what would become of them when men were allowed
to take but one wife ; of the heads of kraals, how
they would grow wealthy wlien their daughters

THE CRISIS 99

„ *

ceased to be worth cattle ; of the councillors and
generals, how the land would be protected from its
foes when they were commanded to lay down the
spear ; and of the soldiers, whose only trade was war,
how it would please them to till the fields like girls ?
Dismay took hold of the nation, and although they
were much loved, there was open talk of killing or
driving away the King and Nodwengo who favoured
the while man,^ and of setting up Hafela in their
place.

, At length the crisis came, and in this fashion.
The Amasuka, like many other African tribes, had
a strange veneration for certain varieties of snakes
which they declared to be possessed by the spirits
of their ancestors. It was a law among them that
if one of these snakes entered a kraal, under pain of
death it must not be killed, or even driven away,
but must be allowed to share with the human
occupants any hut that it might select. As the
result of such enforced hospitality deaths from
snake-bite were numerous among the people ; but
when they happened in a kraal its owners met with
little sympathy, for the doctors explained that the
real cause of them was the anger of some ancestral
spirit towards his descendants. Before John was
dispatched to instruct Owen in the language of the
Amasuka a certain girl was sealed to him as his
future wife, and this girl, who during his absence
had been orphaned, he had now married with the
approval of Owen, who was preparing her for
baptism. On the third morning after his marriage

100 THE WIZARD

John appeared before his master in the last extremity
of grief and terror.

" Help me, Messenger ! " he cried, " for my ancestral
spirit has entered our hut and bitten my wife as
she lay asleep."

" Are you mad ? " asked Owen. " What is an
ancestral spirit, and how can it have bitten your
wife ? "

" A snake,*" gasped John, " a green snake of the
worst sort."

Then Owen remembered the superstition, and
snatching blue-stone and spirits of wine from his
medicine chest, he rushed to John's hut. As it
happened, he was fortunately in time with his
remedies, and succeeded in saving the woman's life,
whereby his reputation as a doctor and a magician,
already great, was considerably enhanced.

" Where is the snake ? " he asked when she was
out of danger.

" Yonder, under the kaross," answered John,
pointing to a skin rug which lay in the corner.

" Have you killed it ? "

" No, Messenger," answered the man, " I dare
not. Alas ! we must live with it here in the hut till
it chooses to go away." •

" Truly," said Owen, " I am ashamed to think
that you who are a Christian should still believe so
horrible a superstition. Does your faith teach you
that the souls of men enter into snakes ? "

Now John hung his head ; then snatching a
kerry, he threw aside the kaross, revealing a great

THE CRISIS 101

, »

green snake seven or eight feet long. With fury he
fell upon the reptile, killed it by repeated blows,
and hurled it into the 'courtyard outside the house.

" Behold, father," he said, " and judge whether I
am still superstitious." Then his countenance fell,
and he added : " Yet my life must pay for this deed,
for it is an ancient law among us that to harm one
of these snakes is death."

" Have no fear," said Owen, " a way will be found
out of this trouble."

That afternoon Owen heard a great hubbub outside
his kraal, and going to see what was the matter,
he found a party of the Witch-doctors dragging
John towards the place of judgment, which was by
the King's house. Thither he followed, to discover
that the case was already in course of being opened
before the King, his council, and a vast audience of
the people. Hokosa was the accuser. In brief and
pregnant sentences he pointed out the enormity
of the offence against the laws of the Amasuka
wherewith the prisoner was charged, producing the
dead snake in proof of his argument and demanding
that the man who had killed it should instantly be
put to death.

" What have you to say ? " asked the King of John.

"This, O King," replied John, "that I am a
Christian, and to me that snake is nothing but a
noxious reptile. It bit my wife, and had it not
been for the medicine of the Messenger, she would
have perished of the bite. Therefore I killed it
before it could harm others."

102 THE WIZARD

" It is a fair answer," said the King. " Hokosa,
I think that this man should go free."

"The King's will is the -law," replied Hokosa
bitterly ; " but if the law were the King's will, the
decision would be otherwise. This man has slain,
not a snake, but that which held the spirit of an
ancestor, and for the deed he deserves to die.
Hearken, O King, for the business is larger than it
seems. How are we to be governed henceforth * Are
we to follow our' ancient rules and customs, or must
we submit ourselves to a new rule and a new custom ?
I tell you, O King, that the people murmur, they are
without light, they wander in the darkness, they
cannot understand. Play with us no more, but let
us hear the truth, that we may judge of it."

Umsuka looked at Owen, but made no reply.

" I will answer you, Hokosa," said Owen," for I
am the spring of all this trouble, and at my command
this man, my disciple, killed yonder snake. What
is it ? It is nothing but a reptile ; no human spirit
ever dwelt within it as you imagine in your super-
stition. You ask to hear the truth ; day by day I
have preached it in your ears and you have not
listened, though many among you have listened and
understood. What is it you seek ? "

" We seek, Messenger, to be rid of you, your
fantasies and your religion ; and we demand that
our King should expel you and restore the ancient
laws, or failing this, that you should prove your
power openly before us all. Your word, O King ! "

Umsuka thought a while and answered ;

THE CRISIS 103

" This is my word, Hokosa : I will not drive the
Messenger from the land, for he is a good man ; he
saved my life, and there is virtue in his teaching,
towards which I myself incline. Yet it is just
that he should be asked to prove his power, so that
an end may be put to doubt and all of us may learn
what god we are to worship."

" How can I prove my power ? " asked Owen,
" further than I have already proved it ? Does
Hokosa desire to set up his god against my God—
the false against the true ? "

" I do," answered the wizard with passion, " and
according to the issue let the judgment be. Let us
halt no longer between two opinions, let us become
wholly Christian or rest wholly heathen, for to be
divided is to be destroyed. The magic of the
Messenger is great, once and for all let us learn if it
is more than our magic. Let us put him and his
doctrines to the trial by fire."

" What is the trial by fire ? " asked Owen.

" You have seen something of it, White Man, but
not much. This is the trial by fire : to stand yonder
before the face of the God of Thunder when a great
tempest rages — not such a storm as you saw, but a
storm that splits the heavens — and to come thence
unscathed. Listen : I who am a ' heaven-herd/
I who know the signs of the weather, tell you that
within two days such a tempest as this will break
upon us. Then, White Man, I and my companions
will be ready to meet you on the plain. Take the
Cross by which you swear and set it up yonder and

104 THE WIZARD

stand by it, and with you your converts* Nodwengo
the Prince, and this man whom you have named
John, if they dare to go. Over against you, around
the symbol of the god by which we swear, will stand
I and my company, and we will pray our god and you
shall pray your God. Then the storm will break
upon us, and when it is ended we shall learn which
of us remain alive. If you and your Cross are
shattered, to us will be the victory ; if we are laid
low, take it for your own. Your judgment, King ! "

Again Umsuka thought and answered :

" So be it. Messenger, hear me. There is no Aeed
for you to accept this challenge ; but if you will not
accept it, then go from my country in peace, taking
with you those who cleave to you. If on the other
hand you do accept it, these shall be the stakes :
that if you pass the trial unharmed and the Fire-
doctors are swept away, your creed shall be my creed
and the creed of the land ; but if the Fire-doctors
prevail against you, then it shall be death or banish-
ment to any who profess that creed. Now choose ! "

" I have chosen," said Owen. " I will meet Hokosa
and his company on the Place of Fire whenever he
may appoint, but for the others I cannot say."

" We will come with you," said Nodwengo and
John with one voice ; " where you go, Messenger,
we will follow."

CHAPTER X

THE SECOND TRIAL BY FIRE

WHEN this momentous .discussion was finished, as
usual Owen preached before the King, expounding
the Scriptures and taking for his subject the duty of
faith. As he went back to his hut he saw that the
snake which John had killed had been set upon a
pole in the part of the Great Place that served as a
market, and that hundreds of natives were gathered
beneath it gesticulating and talking excitedly.

"That is the work of Hokosa," he thought to
himself. " Moses set up a serpent to save the people ;
yonder wizard sets one up to destroy them."

That evening Owen had no heart for his labours,
for his mind was heavy at the prospect of the trial
which lay before him. Not that he cared for his
own life, for of this he scarcely thought ; it was
the prospects of his cause which troubled him. It
seemed much to expect that Heaven should throw
over him the mantle of its especial protection, and
yet if it did not do so there was an end of his mission
among the People of Fire. Well, he had not sought
this trial — he would have avoided it if he could,
but it had been thrust upon him, and he was forced

105

106 THE WIZARD

to choose between it and the abandonment of the
work which he had undertaken with such high hopes
and pushed so far toward success. He had not
chosen the path, it had been pointed out to him to
walk upon ; and if it ended in a precipice, at least
he would have done his best.

As he thought thus John entered the hut, panting.

" What is the matter ? " Owen asked.

" Father, the people saw me and pursued me
because of the death of that accursed snake. Had
I not run fast and escaped them, I think they would
have killed me."

" At least you have escaped, John ; so be com-
forted and return thanks."

" Father," said the man presently, " I know that
you are great and can do many wonderful things,
but have you in truth power over the lightning ? "

" Why do you ask ? "

" Because a great tempest is brewing, and if you
have not we shall certainly be killed when we stand
yonder on the Place of Fire,"

"John," he said, " I cannot speak to the lightning
in a voice which it can hear. I cannot say to it,
' Go yonder/ or ' Come hither/ but He Who made
it can do so. Why do you tempt me with your
doubts ? Have I not told you the story of Elijah
the prophet and the priests of Baal ? Did Elijah's
Master forsake him, and shall He forsake us ? Also
this is certain, that all the medicine of Hokosa and
his wizards will not turn a lightning-flash by the
breadth of a single hair. God alone can turn it, and

THE SECOND TRIAL BY FIRE 107

for the sake of His cause among these people I believe
that He will do so."

Thus Owen spoke on till, in reproving the weakness
of another, he felt his own faith come back to him
and, remembering the past and how he had been
preserved in it, the doubt and trouble went out of
his mind to return no more.

The third day — the day of trial — came. For sixty
hours or more the heat of the weather had been
intense ; indeed, during all that time the thermometer
in Owen's hut, notwithstanding the protection of a
thick thatch, had shown the temperature to vary
between a maximum of in and a minimum of 101
degrees. Now, in the morning, it stood at 108.

" Will the storm break to-day ? " asked Owen of
Nodwengo, who came to visit him.

" They say so, Messenger, and I think it by the
feel of the air. If so, it will be a very great storm,
for the Heaven is full of fire. Already Hokosa
and the doctors are at their rites upon the plain
yonder, but there will be no need to join them till
two hours after midday."

" Is the cross ready ? " asked Owen.

" Yes, and set up. It is a heavy cross ; six men
could scarcely carry it. Oh ! Messenger, I am not
afraid — and yet, have you no medicine ? If not,
I fear that the lightning will fall upon the cross as it
fell upon the pole, and then

" Listen, Nodwengo," said Owen. " I know a
medicine, but I will not use it. You see that wagon-
chain ? Were one end of it buried in the ground and

108 THE WIZARD

the other with a spear blade made fast to it hung to
the top of the cross, we could live out the fiercest
storm in safety. But I say that I will not use it.
Are we witch-doctors that we should take refuge in
tricks ? No, let faith be our shield, and if it fail us,
then let us die. Pray now with me that it may not
fail us."

It was afternoon. All round the Field of Fire were
gathered thousands upon thousands of the people of
the Amasuka, for the news of this duel between the
God of the white man and their god had travelled
far and wide, and even the very aged who could
scarcely crawl and the little one who must be carried
were collected there to see the issue. Nor had they
need to fear disappointment, for already the sky was
half hidden by dense thunder-clouds piled ridge on
ridge, and the hush of the coming tempest lay upon
the earth. Round about the meteor stone which
they called a god, each of them stirring a little gourd
of medicine that was placed upon the ground before
him, but uttering no word, were gathered Hokosa
and his followers to the number of twenty. They
were all of them arrayed in their snakeskin dresses
and other wizard finery. Also each man held in his
hand a wand fashioned from a human thigh-bone.
In front of the stone burned a little fire, which now
and again Hokosa fed with aromatic leaves, at the
same time pouring medicine from his bowl upon the
holy stone. Opposite the symbol of the god, but
at a good distance from it, a great cross of white

THE SECOND TRIAL BY FIRE 109

wood was set up in the rock by a spot which the
Witch-doctors themselves had chosen. Upon the
banks of the stream, in a place apart, were the King,
his councillors, and the regiment on guard, and with
them Owen, the Prince Nodwengo and John.

" The storm will be fierce," said the King uneasily,
glancing at the western sky, upon whose bosom the
blue lightnings played with an incessant flicker.
Then he bade those about him stand back, and call-
ing Owen and the Prince to him, said : " Messenger,
my son tells me that your wisdom knows a plan
whereby you may be preserved safe from the fury
of the tempest. Use it,' I pray of yqu, Messenger,
that your life may be saved, and with it the life of
the only son who is left to me."

" I cannot," answered Owen, " for thus by doubting
Him I should tempt my Master. Still, it is not laid
upon the Prince to accompany me through this trial.
Let him stay here, and I alone will stand beneath
the cross."

" Stay, Nodwengo," implored the old man.

" I did not think to live to hear my father bid
me, one of the royal blood of the Amasuka, ^to
desert my captain in the hour of battle and hide
myself in the grass like a woman," answered the
Prince, with a bitter smile. " Nay, it may be that
death awaits me yonder, but nothing except death
shall keep me back from the venture."

" It is well spoken," said the King ; " be it as you
will."

Now the company of wizards, leaving their

110 THE WIZARD

medicine pots upon the ground, formed themselves in
a treble line, and marching to where the King stood,
they saluted him. Then they sang the praises of
their god, and in a song that had been prepared,
heaped insult upon the God of the white man and
upon the Messenger who preached Him. To all this
Owen listened in silence.

" He is a coward ! " cried their spokesman ; " he
has not a word to say. He skulks there in his white
robes behind the majesty of the King. Let him go
forth and stand by his piece of wood. He dare not
go ! He thinks the hill-side safer. Come out, little
White Man, and we will show you how we manage
the lightnings. Ah ! they shall fly about you like
spears in battle. You shall throw yourself upon the
ground and shriek in terror, and then they shall lick
you up and you shall be no more, and there will be
an end of you and of the symbol of your God."

" Cease your boasting," said the King, shortly,
" and get you back to your place, knowing that if
it should chance that the white man conquers you
will be called upon to answer for these words."

"-We shall be ready, O King," they cried ; and
amidst the cheers of the vast audience they marched
back to their station, still singing the mocking song.

Now to the west all the heavens were black as
night, though the eastern sky was still blue and
cloudless. Nature was oppressed with silence-
silence intense and unnatural ; and so great was
the heat that the air danced visibly above the iron-
stone as it dances about a glowing stove. Suddenly

THE SECOND TRIAL BY FIRE 111

the quietude was broken by a moaning sound of
wind, the grass stirred, the leaves of the trees began
to shiver, and an icy breath beat upon Owen's brow.

" Let us be going," he said, and lifting the ivory
crucifix above his head, he passed the stream and
walked towards the wooden cross. After him came
the Prince Nodwengo, wearing his royal dress of
leopard skin, and after him John, arrayed in a linen
robe.

As the little procession appeared to their view
some of the soldiers began to mock, but almost
instantly the laughter died away. Rude as they
were, these savages understood that here was no
occasion for their mirth, for indeed the three men
seemed clothed with a curious dignity. Perhaps
it was their slow and quiet gait, perhaps it was
a sense of the errand upon which they were bound,
perhaps it was the strange unearthly light that fell
upon them from over the edge of the storm cloud ;
at the least their appearance was impressive. They
reached the cross and took up their stations there,
Owen in front of it, Nodwengo to the right, and John
to the left.

Now a sharp squall of strong wind swept across
the space and with it came a flaw of rain. It passed
by, and the storm that had been muttering and
growling in the distance began to burst. The great
clouds seemed to grow and swell, and from the breast
of them swift lightnings leapt, to be met by other
lightnings rushing upwards from the earth. The
air was filled with a tumult of uncertain wind and

112 THE WIZARD

a hiss as of distant rain. Then the batteries of
thunder were opened, and the world shook with their
volume. Down from on high the flashes fell
blinding and incessant, and by the light of them
the Fire-doctors could be seen running to and for,
pointing now here and now there with their wands
of human bones, and pouring the medicines from
their gourds upon the ground and upon each other.
Owen and his two companions could be seen also,
standing quietly with clasped hands, while above
them towered the tall white cross.

At length the storm was straight over head.
Slowly it advanced in its awe-inspiring might as
flash - after flash, each more fantastic and horrible
than the last, smote upon the floor of ironstone. It
played about the shapes of the doctors, who in the
midst of it looked like devils in an inferno. It
crept onwards towards the station of the cross, but
it never reached it.

One flash struck indeed within fifty paces of
where Owen stood. Then of a sudden a marvel
happened, or something which to this day the People
of Fire talk of as a marvel, for in an instant the
rain began to pour like a wall of water stretching
from earth to heaven, and the wind changed. It
had been blowing from the west, now it blew from
the east with the force of a gale. It blew, it rolled
the tempest back upon itself, causing it to return
to the regions whence it had gathered. At the
very foot of the cross its march was stayed ; there
was the water line, as straight as if it had been

THE SECOND TRIAL BY FIRE 113

drawn with a rule. The thunder-clouds that were
pressed forward met the clouds that were 'pressed
back, and together they seemed to come to earth,
filling the air with a gloom so dense that the eye
Could not pierce it. To the west was a wall of
blackness towering to the heavens ; to the east,
light, blue and unholy, gleamed upon the white
cross and the figures of its watchers. For some
seconds — ten or more — there was a lull, and then
it seemed as though all hell had broken loose upon
the world. The wall of blackness became a wall
of flame, in which strange and ardent shapes ap-
peared ascending and descending ; the thunder
bellowed till the mountains rocked, and in one last
blaze, awful and indescribable, the skies melted
into a deluge of fire. In the glare of it Owen thought
that he saw the figures of men falling this way and
that, then he staggered against the cross for support
and his senses failed him.

When they returned again, he perceived the
storm being drawn back from the face of the pale
earth like a pall from the face of the dead, and he
heard the murmur of fear and wonder rising from
ten thousand throats.

Well might they fear and wonder, for of the
twenty and one wizards eleven were dead, four
were paralysed by shock, five were flying in their
terror, and one, Hokosa himself, stood staring at
the fallen, a very picture of despair. Nor was
this all, for the meteor-stone with a human shape
which for generations the People of Fire had

114 THE WIZARD

worshipped as a god, lay upon the plain in fused
and shattered fragments.

The people saw, and a sound as of a hollow groan
of terror went up from them. Then they were silent.
For awhile Owen and his companions were silent
also, for their hearts were too full for speech. Then
he said :

" As the snake fell harmless from the hand of
Paul, so has the lightning tumed back from me,
who strive to follow in his footsteps, working death
and dismay among those who would have harmed us.
May forgiveness be theirs who were without under-
standing. Brethren, let us return and make report
to the King."

Now, as they had come, so they went back ;
first Owen with the crucifix, next to him Nodwengo,
and last of the three John. They drew near to the
King, when suddenly, moved by a common impulse,
the thousands of the people upon the banks of the
stream with one accord threw themselves upon their
knees before Owen, calling him God and offering him
worship. Infected by the contagion, Umsuka and
his councillors followed their example, so that of all
the multitude Hokosa alone remained upon his feet,
standing by his dishonoured and riven deity.

" Rise ! " cried Owen, aghast. " Would you do
sacrilege, and offer worship to a man ? Rise, I
command you ! "

Then the King rose, saying :

" You are no man, Messenger, you are a spirit."

" He is a spirit," repeated the multitude after him.

THE SECOND. TRIAL BY FIRE 115

" I am not a spirit," cried Owen again, " but the
Spirit Whom I serve has made His power manifest
in me His servant, and your idols are smitten with the
swoyd of His power, O ye Sons of Fire ! Hokosa still
lives, let him be brought hither."

They fetched Hokosa, and he stood before them.

" You have seen , Wizard," said the King. " What
have you to say ? "

" Nothing," answered Hokosa, " save that victory
is to the Cross, and to the white man who preaches it,
for his magic is greater than our magic, and by his
command the tempest was stayed, and the boasts
we hurled fell back upon our heads and the head of
our god to destroy us."

" Yes," said the King, " victory is to the Cross,
and henceforth the Cross shall be worshipped in
this land, or at the least no other god shall be
worshipped. Let us be going. Come with me,
Messenger, Lord of the Lightning."

CHAPTER XI

THE WISDOM OF THE DEAD

ON the morrow Owen baptised the King, many of
his councillors, and some twenty others whom he
considered fit to receive the rite. Also he dispatched
his first convert John, with other messengers, on a
three months' journey to the coast, giving them
letters acquainting the bishop and others with his
marvellous success, and praying that missionaries
might be sent to assist him in his labours.

Now day by day the Church grew till it numbered
some hundreds of souls, and thousands more hovered
on its threshold. From dawn to dark Owen toiled,
preaching, exhorting, confessing, gathering in his
harvest ; and from dark to midnight he pored over
his translation of the Scriptures, teaching Nodwengo
and a few others how to read and write them. But
although his efforts were crowned with so. signal and
extraordinary a triumph, he was well aware of the
dangers that threatened the life of the infant Church.
Many accepted it indeed, and still more tolerated it ;
but there remained thousands who regarded the new
religion with suspicion and veiled hatred. Nor was
this strange, seeing that the hearts of men are not
116

THE WISDOM OF THE DEAD 117.

changed in an hour or their ancient customs easily
overset.

On one point, indeed, Owen had to give way.
The Amasuka were a polygamous people ; all their
law and traditions were interwoven with polygamy,
and to abolish that institution suddenly and with
violence would have brought their sqcial fabric to
the ground. Now, as he knew well, the missionary
Church declares in effect that no man can be both a
Christian and a polygamist, and therefore among
the followers of that custom the missionary Church
makes but little progress. Not without many
qualms and hesitations, Owen, having only the
Scriptures to consult, came to a compromise with
his converts. If a man already married to more
than \>ne wife wished to become a Christian, he
permitted him to do so upon the condition that he
took no more wives ; while a man unmarried at the
time of his conversion- might take one wife only.
This decree, liberal as it was, caused great dis-
satisfaction among both men and women ; but it
was as nothing compared to the feeling that was
evoked by Owen's preaching against all war not
undertaken in self-defence, and by the strict laws
which he prevailed upon the King to pass, sup-
pressing the practice of wizardry, and declaring the
chief or doctor who caused a man to be " smelt out "
and killed upon charges of witchcraft to be guilty
of murder.

At first whenever Owen went abroad he was
surrounded by thousands of people who followed

118 THE WIZARD

him in the expectation that he would work miracles,
which, after his exploits with the lightning, they
were well persuaded that he could do if he chose.
But he worked no more miracles ; he only preached
to them a doctrine adverse to their customs and
foreign to their thoughts. So it came about that
in time, wheji the novelty had gone off and the story
of his victory over the Fire-god had grown stale,
although the work of conversion went on steadily,
many of the people grew weary of the white man and
his doctrines. Soon this weariness found expression
in various ways, and in none more markedly than
by the constant desertions from I he ranks of the
King's regiments. At first, by Owen's advice, the
King tolerated these desertions ; but at length,
having obtained information that an entire regiment
purposed absconding at down, he caused it to be
surrounded and seized by night. Next morning he
addressed that regiment, saying :

" Soldiers, you think that because I have become
a Christian and will not permit unnecessary blood-
shed, I am also become a fool. I will teach you
otherwise. One man in every twenty of you shall
be killed, and henceforth any soldier who attempts
to desert will be killed also ! "

The order was carried out, for Owen could not
find a word to say against it, with the result that
desertions almost ceased, though not before the
King had lost some eight or nine thousand of his
best soldiers. Worst of all, these soldiers had gone '
to join Hafela in his mountain fastnesses ; and the

THE WISDOM OF THE DEAD 119

rumour grew that ere long they would appear again,
to claim the crown for him or to take it by force of
arms.

And now a fresh complication arose. The old
King sickened of his last illness, and soon it became
known that he must die. A month later die he did,
passing "away peacefully in Owen's arms, and with
his last breath exhorting his people to cling to the
Christian religion, to take Nodwengo for their King
and to be faithful to him.

The King died, and that same day was buried by
Owen in the gloomy resting-place of the blood-royal
of the People of Fire, where a Christian priest now
set foot for the first time.

On the morrow Nodwengo was proclaimed king
with much cererinony in face of the people and of
all the army that remained to him. One captain
raised a cry for Hafela his brother. Nodwengo
caused him to be seized and brought before him.

" Man," he said, " on this my coronation day I
will not stain my hand with blood. Listen. You
cry upon Hafela, and to Hafela you shall go, taking
him this message. Tell him that I, Nodwengo,
have succeeded to the crown of Umsuka, my father,
by his will and the will of the people. Tell him it
is true that I have become a Christian, and that
Christians follow not after war but peace. Tell him,
however, that though I am a Christian I have not
forgotten how to fight or how to rule. It has reached
my ears that it is his purpose to attack me with the
great force that he has gathered and to possess himself

120 THE WIZARD

of my throne. If he should choose to come, I shall
be ready to meet him ; but I counsel him against
coming, for it will be to find his death. Let him stay
where he is in peace, and be my subject ; or let him
go afar with those that cleave to him, and set up a
kingdom of his own , for then I shall not follow him ;
but let him not dare to lift a spear against me, his
sovereign, for then he shall be treated as a rebel and
find the doom of a rebel. Begone, and show your
face here no more ! "

The man, crept away crestfallen ; but all who
heard that speech broke into cheering, which, as
its purport was repeated from rank or rank, spread
far and wide ; for now the army learned that in
becoming a Christian Nodwengo had not become
a woman. Of this indeed he soOrf gave them ample
proof. The old king's grip upon things had been
lax, that of Nodwengo was like iron. He practised*
no cruelties, and did injustice to none; but his
discipline was severe, and soon the regiments were
brought t.o a greater pitch of proficiency than they
had ever reached before, although they were now
allowed to marry when they pleased, a boon that
hitherto had been denied to them. Moreover, by
Owen's help, he designed an entirely new system of
fortification of the kraal and surrounding hills,1
which would, it was thought, make the place impreg-
nable^ These and many other acts, equally vigorous
and far-seeing, put new heart into the nation. Also
the report of them put fear into Hafela, who, it was
rumoured, had given up all idea of attack.

THE WISDOM OF THE DEAD 121

Some there were, however, who looked upon
these changes with little love, and Hokosa was the
chief of them. After his defeat in the duel by fire,
for a while his Spirit was crushed. Hitherto he had
more or less been a believer in the protecting influence
of his own god or fetish, who would, as he thought,
hold his priests scatheless from the lightning. Often
and often had he stood in past days upon that plain
while the great tempests broke around his head,
and returned thence unharmed, attributing to sorcery
a safety that was really due to chance. From time
to time indeed a priest was killed ; but, so his com-
panions held, the misfortune resulted invariably from
the man's neglect of some rite, or was a mark of the
anger of the Heavens. Now he had lived to see all
these convictions shattered : he had seen the
lightning, which he pretended to be able to control,
roll back upon him from the foot of the Christian
cross, reducing his god to nothingness and his
companions to corpses. At first Hokosa was dis-
mayed, but as time went on hope came back to him.
Stripped of his offices and power, and from the
greatest in the nation, after the King, become one
of small account, still no. harm or violence was
attempted towards him. He was left wealthy and
in peace, and living thus he watched and listened
with open eyes and ears, waiting till the tide should
turn. It seemed that he would not have long to
wait, for reasons that have been told.

" Why do you sit here like a vulture on a rock,"
asked the girl Noma,. whom he had taken to wife,

122 THE WIZARD

"when you might be yonder with Hafela, preparing
him by your wisdom for the coming war ? "

" Because I am a king-vulture, and I wait for the
sick bull to die," he answered, pointing to the Great
Place beneath him. " Say, why should I bring
Hafela to prey upon a carcase I have marked down
for my own ? "

" Now you speak well," said Noma ; " the bull
suffers from a strange disease, and when he is dead
another must lead the herd."

" That is so," answered her husband, " and,
therefore, I am patient."

It was shortly after this conversation that the old
King died, with results very different from those
which Hokosa had anticipated. Although he was
a Christian, to his surprise Nodwengo showed that
he twas also a strong ruler, and that there was little
chance of the sceptre slipping from his hand — none
indeed while the white teacher was there to guide him.

" What will you do now, Hokosa ? " asked Noma
his wife upon a certain day. " Will you turn you to
Hafela after all ? "

" No," answered Hokosa ; " I will consult my
ancient lore. Listen. Whatever else is false, this
is true : that magic exists, and I am a master of it.
For a while it seemed to me that the white man was
greater at the art than I am ; but of late I have
watched him and listened to his doctrines, and I
believe that this is not so. It is true that in the
beginning he read my plans inl1a dream, or otherwise ;
it is true that he hurled the lightning back upon my

THE WISDOM OF THE DEAD 123

head ; but I hold that these things were accidents.
Again and again he has told us that he is not a wizard ;
and if this be so, he can be overcome."

" How, husband ? "

"How? By wizardry. This very night, Noma,
with your help I will consult the dead, as I have
done in bygone time, and learn the future from their
lips which cannot die."

" So be it ; though the task is hateful to me,
and I hate you who force me to it." She answered
thus with passion, but her eyes shone as she spoke ;
for those who have once tasted the cup of magic
are ever drawn to drink of it again, even when they
fear to do so.

It was midnight, and Hokosa with his wife stood
in the burying-ground of the kings of the Amasuka.
Before Owen came upon his mission it was death
to visit this spot except upon the occasion of the
laying to rest of one of the royal blood, or to offer
the annual sacrifice to the spirits of the dead. Even
beneath the bright moon that shone upon it the
place seemed terrible. Here in the bosom of the
hills was an amphitheatre, surrounded by walls
of rock varying from five hundred to a thousand
feet in height. In this amphitheatre grew great
mimosa thorns, and above them towered pillars of
granite, set there not by the hand of man but of
Nature. It would seem that the Amasuka, led by
some fine natural instinct, had chosen these columns
as fitting memorials of their kings, at the least a

124 THE WIZARD

departed monarch lay at the foot of each of them.
The smallest of these unhewn obelisks — it" was about
fifty feet high — marked the 'resting-place of Umsuka ;
and deep into the granite of it Owen with his own
hand had cut the dead King's name and date of
death, surmounting the inscription with the symbol
of the cross. Towards this pillar Hokosa made his
way through the wet grass, followed by Noma liis
wife. Presently they were there, standing one upon
each side of a little mound of earth more like an
antheap than a grave ; ^for, after the custom of his
people, Umsuka had beep buried sitting. At the
foot of each of the other pillars was a heap of similar
shape, but many times as large ; for the kings who
slept there were accompanied to their resting-places
by numbers of their wives and servants, who had
been slain in solemn sacrifice that they might attend
their lord whithersoever he should wander.

" What is it that you would do ? " asked Noma,
in a hushed voice ; for, bold as she was, the place
and the occasion awed her.

" I would seek wisdom from the dead ! " Hokosa
answered. " Have I not already told you* and
can I not do it with your help ? "

" What dead, husband ? "

" Umsuka the king. Ah ! I served him living,
and at the last he drove me away from his side.
Now he shall serve me, and out of the nowhere I
will call him back to mine."

" Will not this symbol defeat you ? " and she
pointed to the cross hewn in the granite.

THE WISDOM OF THE DEAD 125

At her words a sudden gust of rage seemed to
shake the wizard. . His still eyes flashed, his lips
turned livid, and with them he spat upon the cross.

" It has no power," he said. " May it be accursed,
and may he who believes therein hang upon it !
It has no power ; but even if it had, according to
the tale of that white liar, such things as I would
do have been done beneath its shadow. By it the
dead have been raised — ay ! dead kings have been
dragged from death and forced to tell the secrets of
the grave. Come, come, let us to the work."

" What must I do, husband ? "

" You shall sit you there, even as a corpse sits,
and there for a little while you shall die — yes, your
spirit shall leave you — and I will fill your body
with the spirit of him who sleeps beneath ; and
through your lips I will learn his wisdom, to whom
all things are known."

" It is terrible ! I am afraid ! " she said. " Cannot
this be done otherwise ? "

" It cannot," he answered. " The spirits of the
dead have no shape or form ; they are invisible,
and can speak only in dreams or through the lips
of one in whose pulses life still lingers, though soul
and body be already parted. Have no fear. Ere his
spirit leaves you it shall recall your own, which till
the corpse is cold stays ever close at hand. I did
not think to find a coward in you, Noma."

" I am not a coward, as you know well," she
answered passionately, " for many a deed of magic
have we dared together in past days ; but this is

126 THE WIZARD

fearsome, to die that my body may become the
home of the ghost of a dead man, who perchance,
having entered it, will abide there, leaving my spirit
houseless, or perchance will shut up the doors of
my heart in such fashion that they never can be
opened. Can it not be done by trance as aforetime ?
Tell me, Hokosa, how often have you thus talked
with the dead ? "
"Thrice, Noma."

" And what chanced to them through whom you
talked ? "

" Two lived and took no harm ; the third died,
because the awakening medicine was not powerful
enough. But fear nothing ; that which I have with
me is of the best. . Noma, you know my plight :
I must win wisdom, and you alone can help me ;
for under this new rule I can no longer buy a youth
or maid for purposes of witchcraft, even if one could
be found fitted for the work. Choose then : shall
we go back or forward ? Here trance will not
help us ; for those entranced cannot read the future,
nor can they hold communion with the dead, being
but asleep. Choose, Noma."

" I have chosen," she answered. " Never yet
have I turned my back upon a venture, nor will I
do so now. Come life, come death, I will submit
me to your wish, though there are few women who
would do as much for any man. Nor in truth do
I do it for you, Hokosa ; I do it because I seek
power, and thus only can we win it who are fallen.
Also I love all things strange, and desire to commune

THE WISDOM OF THE DEAD 127

with the dead and to know that, if for some few
minutes only, at least my woman's breast has held
the spirit of a king. Yet, I warn you, make no
fault in your magic; for should I die beneath it,
then I, who desire to live on and to be great, will
haunt you and be avenged upon you ! "

" Oh ! Noma," he said, " if I believed that there
was any danger for you, should I ask you to do
this thing ? — I, who love you more even than you
love power, more than my life, more than anything
that is or ever can be."

" I know it, and it is to that I trust," she answered.
" Now begin, for my courage leaves me."

"Good," he said. "Seat yourself there upon the
mound, resting your head gainst the stone."

She obeyed ; and taking the thongs of hide which
he had ready, Hokosa bound her wrists and ankles,
as these people bind the wrists and ankles of a
corpse. Then he knelt before her, staring into her
face with his solemn eyes and muttering : " Obey
and sleep."

Presently her limbs relaxed, and her head fell
forward.

" Do you sleep ? " he asked.

" I sleep. Whither shall I go ? It is the true
sleep — test me."

" Pass to the house of the white man, my rival.
Are you there ? "

" I am there."

" What does he ? "

" He lies in slumber on his bed, and in his slumber

128 THE WIZARD

he mutters the name of a woman, and tells her that
he loves her, but that duty is more than love. Oh !
call me back, I cannot stay ; a presence guards him,
and pushes me thence."

" Return," said Hokosa, starting. " Pass through
the earth beneath you and tell me what you see."

" I see the body of the King ; but where it not
for his royal ornaments none would know him
now." •

" Return," said Hokosa, " and let the eyes of
your spirit be open. Look around^ou and tell me
what you see."

" I see the shadows of the dead," she answered :
" they stand about you, gazing at you with angry
eyes ; but when they come near you, something
drives them back, and I cannot understand what
it is they say."

" Is. the ghost of Umsuka among them ? "

" It is among them."

" Bid him prophesy the future to me."

" I have bidden him, but he does not answer.
If you would hear him speak, it must be through
the lips of my body; and first my -body must be
emptied of my spirit, that his may find a place
therein."

" Say, can his spirit be compelled ? "

" It can be compelled, or that part of it that
still hovers near this spot, if you dare to speak
the words you know. But first a house must be
made ready for it. Then the words must be spoken,
and all must Be done before a man can count three

THE WISDOM OF THE DEAD 129

hundred ; for should the blood begin to clot about my
heart, it will be still for ever."

" Hearken," said Hokosa. " When the medicine
that I shall give you does its work, and the spirit
is loosened from your body, let it not go afar, what-
ever tempts or threatens it, and suffer not that the
death-cord be severed, lest flesh and spirit be parted
for ever."

" I hear and I obey. Be swift, for I grow weary."

Then Hokosa took from his pouch two medicines :
one a paste in a box, the other a fluid in a gourd.
Taking of the paste, he knelt upon the grave before
the entranced woman and swiftly smeared it upon
the mucous membrane of the mouth and throat.
Also he thrust pellets of it into the ears, the nostrils,
and the corners of the eyes. The effect was almost
instantaneous. A change came over the girl's lovely
face, the last awful change of death. Her cheeks
fell in, her chin dropped, her eyes opened, and her
flesh quivered convulsively. The wizard saw it all
by the bright moonlight ; then he took up his part
in this unholy drama.

What it was that he did cannot be described,
because it is indescribable. The Witch of Endor
-repeated no formula, but she raised the dead ; and
so did Hokosa the wizard. He buried his face in
the grey dust of the grave, he blew with his lips
into the dust, he clutched at the dust with his
hands, and when he raised his face again, lo ! it
was grey like the dust. Then began the marvel ;
for, though the woman before him remained a corpse,

130 THE WIZARD

from the lips of the corpse a voice issued, and its
sound was horrible, for the accent and tone of it
were masculine, and the instrument through which
it spoke — Noma's throat — was feminine, yet it could
be recognised as the voice of Umsuka the dead
King.

" Why have you summoned me from my rest,
Hokosa ? " hissed the voice from the lips of the
huddled corpse.

" Because I would learn the future, Spirit of the
King," answered the wizard boldly, but saluting as
he spoke. " You are dead, and to your sight all
the Gates are opened. By the power that I have,
I command you to show me what you see therein
concerning myself, and to point out to me the path
that I should follow to attain my ends and the ends
of her in whose breast you dwell."

At once the answrer came, always in the same
horrible voice :

" Hearken to your fate for this world, Hokosa
the wizard. You shall triumph over your rival,
the white man, the Messenger ; and by your hand
he shall perish, passing to his appointed place.
By that to which you cling you shall be betrayed,
ay ! you shall lose that which you love and follow
after that which you do not desire. In the grave
of error you shall find truth, from the deeps of sin
you shall pluck righteousness. When these words
fall upon your ears again, then, Wizard, take them
for a sign, and let your heart be turned. That
which you deem accursed shall lift you up on high.

THE WISDOM OF THE DEAD 131

High shall you be set above the nation and its
King, and from age to age the voice of the people
shall praise you. Yet in the end comes judgment ;
and there shall the sin and the atonement strive
together, and in that hour, Wizard, you shall

Thus the voice spoke, strongly at first, but growing
ever more feeble as the sparks of life departed from
the body of the woman, till at length it ceased
altogether. »

" What shall chance to me in that hour ? " Hokosa
asked eagerly, placing his ear against Noma's lips.

No answer came ; and the wizard knew that if he
would drag his wife back from the door of death
he must delay no longer. Dashing the sweat from
his eyes with one hand, with the other he seized
the gourd of fluid that he had placed ready and,
thrusting back her head, he poured of its contents
down her throat and waited a while. She did not
move. In an extremity of terror he snatched a
knife, and with a single cut severed a vein in her
arm, then taking some of the fluid that remained
in the gourd in his hand, he rubbed it roughly
upon her brow and throat and heart. Now her
fingers stirred, and now, with horrible contortions
and every symptom of agony, life returned to her :
the blood flowed from her wounded arm, slowly
at first, then more last, and lifting her head she
spoke.

" Take me hence," she cried, " or I shall go mad ;
for I have seen and heard things too terrible to be
spoken ! "

132 THE WIZARD

" What have you seen and heard ? " he asked,
while he cut the thongs which bound her wrists
and feet.

" I do not know," she answered, weeping ; " the
vision of them passes from me : but all the distances
of death were open to my sight ; yes, I travelled
through the distances of death. In them I met
him who was the King, and he lay cold within me,
speaking to ,my heart ; and as he passed from me
he looked upon the child that I shall bear and
cursed it, and accursed it shall be. Take me hence,
O you most evil man, for of your wizardries I
have had enough, and from this day forth I am
haunted ! "

" Have no fear," answered Hokosa, " you have
made the journey whence but few return ; and
yet, as I promised you, you have returned to wear
the greatness you desire and that I sent you forth
to win ; for henceforth we shall be great. Look,
the dawn is breaking — the dawn of life and the
dawn of power — and the mists of death and of
disgrace roll back before us. Now the path is clear,
the dead have shown it to me, and of wizardry I
shall n«ed no more."

" Ay," answered Noma, " but night follows dawn
as the dawn follows night ; and through the darkness
and the daylight, I tell you, Wizard, henceforth I
am haunted ! Also, be not so sure, for though I
know not what the dead have spoken to you, yet
it lingers on my mind that their words have many
meanings. Nay, speak to me no more, but let us

THE WISDOM OF THE DEAD 133

fly from this dread home of ghosts/this habitation
of the spirit-folk that we have violated."

So the wizard and his wife crept from that solemn
place, and saw the dawn-beams lighting upon the
white cross that was reared in the Plain of
Fire,

CHAPTER XII

THE MESSAGE OF HOKOSA

THE weeks went by, and Hokosa sat in his kraal
weaving a great plot. None suspected him any
more, for though he did not belong to it, he was
heard to speak well of the new faith, and to acknow-
ledge that the God of Fire which he had worshipped
was a false god. He was humble also towards the
King, but he craved to withdraw himself from all
matters of the state, saying that now he had but
one desire — to tend his herds and garden, and to
grow old in peace with the new wife whom he had
chosen and whom he loved. Owen, too, he greeted
courteously when he met him, sending gifts of corn
and cattle for the service of his Church. Moreover,
when a messenger came from Hafela, making
proposals to him, he drove him away and laid the
matter before the Council of the King. Yet that
messenger, who was hunted from the kraal, took
back a secret word for Hafela's ear.

" It is not always winter," was the word, " and
it may chance that in the springtime you shall
hear from me." And again, " Say to the Prince
Hafela, that though my face towards him is like a
storm, yet behind the clouds the sun shines ever."

134

THE MESSAGE OF HOKOSA 135

At length there came a day when Noma, his
wife, was brought to bed. Hokosa, her husband,
tended her alone, and when the child was bom
he groaned alond and would not suffer her to look
on it. Yet, Jifting herself, she saw.

" Did I not tell you it was accursed ? " she wailed.
" Take it away ! " and she sank back in a swoon .
So he took the child and buried it deep in the cattle
yard by night.

After this it came about that Noma,*who, though
her mind owned the sway of his, had never loved him
over much, hated her husband Hokosa, a^d yet he
had this power over her that she could not leave him.
But he loved her more and more, and she had this
power over him that she could always draw him to
her. Great as her beauty had ever been, after the
birth of the child it grew greater day by day, but it
was an evil beauty, the beauty of a witch ; and this .
fate fell upon her, that she feared the dark and would
never be alone after the sun had set. When she
was recovered from her sickness, Noma sat one
night in her hut, and Hokosa sat there also watching
her. . The evening was warm, but a bright fire
burned in the hut and she crouched upon a
stool by the fire, glancing continually over her
shoulder.

" Why do you bide by the fire, seeing that it is
so hot, Noma ? " he asked.

" Because I fear to be away frofct the light," she
answered, adding, " Oh, accursed man ! for your
own ends you have caused me to be bewitched.

136 THE WIZARD

ay ! and that which was born of me also, and
bewitched I am by those shadows which you bade
me seek, and which now will never leave me. Nor
is this all. You swrore to me that if I would do
your will I should become great, ay, and you took
me from one who would have made me great and
whom I should have pushed on to victory. But
now it seems that for nothing I made that awful
voyage into the depths of death ; and for nothing,
yet living, tm I become the sport of those that
dwell there. How am I greater than I was — I,
who am but the second wife of a fallen witch-doctor,
who sits in the sun, day by day, while age gathers
on his head like frost upon a bush ? Where are all
your high schemes now ? Where is the fruit of
wisdom that I gathered for you ? Answer, Wizard,
whom I have learned to hate, but from whom I
cannot escape ! "

" Truly," said THfokosa in a bitter voice, " for all
my sins against them the Heavens have laid a
heavy fate upon my head, that thus with flesh and
spirit I should worship a woman who loathes me.
One comfort only is left to me, that you dare not
take my life, and that what I bid you that you
must do. Ay, you fear the dark, Noma ; yet did I
command you to arise and go stand alone through
the long night yonder in the burying-place of kings,
why, you must do it. Come, I command you—
go!"

" Nay, nay ! " she wailed in an extremity of terror,
and yet she rose and went towards the door sideways,

THE MESSAGE OF HOKOSA 137

for her hands were outstretched in supplication to
him.

" Come back," he said, " and listen : If a hunter
has nurtured up a fierce dog, wherewith alone he
can gain his livelihood, he tries to tame that dog
by love, does he not ? And if it will not become
gentle, then, it being necessary to him, he tames
it by fear. I am the hunter and, Noma, you are
the hound ; and since this curse is on me that I
cannot live without you, why I must master you
as best I may. Yet, believe me, I would not cause
you fear or pain, and it saddens me that you should
be haunted by these sick fancies, for they are nothing
more. I have seen such cases before to-day, and
I ' have noted that they can be cured by mixing
with fresh faces and travelling in new countries.
Noma, I think it would be well that, after your
late sickness, according to the custom of the women
of our people, you should part from me a while,
and go upon a journey of purification."

" Whither shall I go and who will go with me ? "
she asked, sullenly.

" I will find you companions, women discreet and
skilled. And as to where you shall go, I will tell you.
You shall go upon an embassy to the Prince Hafela."

" Are you not afraid that I should stop there ? "
she asked again, with a flash of her eyes. " It is
true that I never heard all the story, yet I thought
that the Prince was not so glad to hanc^^me back
to you as you would have had me to believe. The
price you paid for me must have been good, Hokosa,

138 THE WIZARD

and mayhap it had to do with the death of a
king."

" I am not afraid," he answered, setting his teeth,
" because I know that whatever your heart may
desire, my will follows you, and while I live that
is a cord you cannot break unless I choose to loose
it, Noma. I command you to be faithful to me
and to return to me, and these commands you
must obey. Hearken : you taunted me just now,
saying that I sat like a dotard in the sun and,
advanced you nothing. Well, I will advance you,
for both our sakes, but mostly for your own, since
you desire it, and it must be dorie through the
Prince Hafela. I cannot leave this kraal, for day
and night I am watched, and before I had gone
an hour's journey I should be seized ; also here
I have work to do. But the Place of Purification
is secret, and when you reach it you need not bide
there, you can travel on into the mountains till
you come to the town of the Prince Hafela. He
will receive you gladly and you shall whisper this
message in his ear : ' These are the words of Hokosa,
my husband, which he has set in my mouth to
deliver to you, O Prince. Be guided by them and
grow great ; reject them and die a wanderer, a little
man of no account. But first, this is the price that
you shall swear by the sacred oath to pay to Hokosa,
if his wisdom finds favour in your sight and through
it you come to victory : That after you, the King,
he, Hokosa, shall be the first man in the land, the
general of the armies, the captain of the Council, the

THE MESSAGE OF HOKOSA 139

head of the doctors, and that to him shall be given
half of the cattle of Nodwengo, who now is king.
Also to him shall be given power to stamp out the
new faith which overruns the land like a foreign
weed, and to deal as he thinks fit with those who
cling to it.'

" Now, Noma, when he has sworn this oath in your
ear, calling down ruin upon his own head, should
he break one word of it, and not before, you shall
continue the message thus : ' These are the words
that Hokosa set in my mouth : " Know, O Prince,
that the King, your brother, grows very strong,
for he is a great soldier, who learned his art in bygone
wars ; also the white man that is named Messenger
has taught him many things as to the building
of forts and j walls and the drilling and discipline
of men. So strong is he that you can scarcely hope
to conquer him in open war — yet snakes may crawl
where men cannot walk. Therefore, Prince, let your
part 'be that of a snake. ^ Do you send an embassy
to the King, your brother, and say to him : ' My
brother, you have been preferred before me and set
up to 'be King in my place, and because of this my
heart is bitter, so bitter that I have gathered my
strength to make war upon you. Yet, at the last,
I have taken another counsel, bethinking me that,
if we fight, in the end it may chance that neither of
us will be left alive to rule, and that the people also
will be brought to nothing. To the north there lies a
good country and a^wide, where but few men live,
and thither I would go, setting the mountains

UO THE WIZARD

and the river between us ; for there, far beyond
your borders, I also can be a king. Now, to reach
this country, I must travel by the pass that is
not far from your Great Place, and I pray you
that you will not attack my impis or the women
and children that I shall send, and a guard before
them, to await me m the plain beyond the moun-
tains, seeing that these can only journey slowly.
Let us pass by in peace, my brother, for so shall
our quarrel be ended ; but if you do so much as
lift a single spear against me, then I will give you
battle, setting my fortune against your fortune and
my god against your God!/

"'"Such are the wrords that the embassy shall
deliver into the ears of the King, Nodwengo, and
it [shall come about that when he hears them,
Nodwengo, whose heart is gentle and who seeks
not war, shall answer softly, saying : ' Go in peace,
my brother, and live in peace in that land which
you would win/ Then shall you, Hafela, send on
the most of your cattle and the women and children
through the pass in the mountains, bidding them
to await you in the plain, and after awhile you
shall follow them with your impis. But these
shall not travel in war-array, for carriers shall bear
their fighting shields in bundles and their stabbing
spears shall be rolled up in mats. Now, on the
sixth day of your journey you shall camp at the
mouth of the pass which the cattle and the women
have already travelled, and his outposts and spies
shall bring it to the ears of the King . that your

THE MESSAGE OF HOKOSA 141

force is sleeping there, purposing to climb the
pass on the morrow.. But on that night, so soon
as the darkness falls, you shall rise up with your
captains and your regiments, leaving your fires
burning and men about your fires, and shall travel
very swiftly across the valley, so that an hour
before the dawn you reach the second range of
mountains, and pass it by the gorge which is the
burying-place of kings. Here you shall light a
fire, which those who watch will believe to be but
the fire of a herdsman who is acold. But I, Hokosa,
also shall be watching, and when I see that fire I
will creep, with some whom I can trust, to the little
northern gate of the outer wall, and we will spear
those that guard it and open the gate, that your
army may pass through it. Then, before the
regiments can stand to their arms or those within
it are awakened, you shall storm the inner walls
and by the light of the burning huts shall put the
dwellers of the Great Place to the spear, and the
rays of the rising sun shall crown you king.

« < « Follow this counsel of mine, O Prince Hafela,
I and all shall go well with you. Neglect it and
be lost. There is but one thing which you need
fear — it is the magic of the Messenger, to whom
it is given to read the secret thoughts of men. But
of him take no account, for he is my charge, and
before ever you set a foot within the Great Place
he shall have taken his answer back to Him Who
sent him."

Hokosa finished speaking.

142 THE WIZARD

" Have you heard ? " he said to Noma.

" I have heard."

" Then speak the message."

She repeated it word for word, making no fault.
" Have no fear," she added, " I shall forget nothing
when I stand before the Prince."

" You are a woman, but your counsel is good.
What think you of the plan, Noma ? "

"It is deep and well laid," she answered, "and
surely it would succeed were it not for one thing.
The white man, Messenger, will be too clever for
you, for as you say, he is a reader of the thoughts
of men."

fc "Can the dead read men's thoughts, or if they
can, do they cry them on the market-place or
into the ears of kings ? " asked Hokosa. " Have
I not told you that, before I see the signal fire
yonder, the Messenger shall sleep sound ? I have
a medicine, Noma, a slow medicine that none can
trace."

" The Messenger shall sleep sound, Hokosa, and
yet perchance he may pass on his message to another
and, with it, his magic. Who can say ? Still,
strike on for power and greatness and revenge,
letting the blow fall where it will."

CHAPTER XIII

THE BASKET OF FRUIT

THREE days later it was announced that according
to the custom of the women of the People of Fire
Noma, having given birth to a still-born child, was
about to start upon a journey to the Mount of
Purification, where she would abide awhile and make
sacrifice to the spirits of her ancestors, that they
might cease to be angry with her and in future
protect her from such misfortunes. This not unusual
domestic incident excited little comment, although
it was remarked that the four matrons by whom she
was to be accompanied, in accordance with the tribal
etiquette, were all of them the wives of soldiers
who had deserted to Hafela. Indeed, the King
himself noticed as much when Hokosa made the
customary formal application to him to sanction the
expedition.

" So be it," he said, " though myself I have lost
faith in such rites, Also, Hokosa, I think it likely
that although your wife goes out with company,
she will return alone."

" Why, King ? " asked Hokosa.

"For this reason — that those who travel with

143

144 THE WIZARD

her have husbands yonder at the town of the Prince
Hafela, and the Mount of the Purification is on the
road thither. Having gone so far, they may go
farther. Well, let them go, for I desire to have none
among my people whose hearts turn otherwhere, and
it would not be wonderful if they should choose to
seek their lords, though perchance, Hokosa, there are
some in this town who may use them as messengers
to the Prince" — and he looked at him keenly.

" I think not, King," said Hokosa. " None but
a fool would make use of women to carry secret
words or tidings. Their tongues are too long and
their memories too bad, or too uncertain."

" Yet I have heard, Hokosa, that you have made
use of women in many a strange work. Say now,
what were you doing upon a night a while ago with
that fair witch-wife of yours yonder in the burying-
place of kings, where it is not lawful that you should
set your foot ? Nay, deny it not. You were seen
to enter the valley after midnight and to return
thence at the dawn, and it was seen also that as she
came homewards your wife walked as one who is.
drunken, and she, whom it is not easy to frighten,
wore a face of fear. Man, I do not trust you, and
were I wise I should hunt you hence, or keep you so
close that you could scarcely move without my
knowledge. Why should I trust you ? " Nodwengo
went on vehemently. " Can a wizard cease from
his wizardry, or a plotter from his plots ? No, not
until the waters run upwards and the sun shines at
night ; not until repentance touches you and your

THE BASKET OF FRUIT 145

heart is changed, which I should hold as much a
marvel. You were my father's friend and he made
you great ; yet you could plan with my brother to
poison him, your king. • Nay, be silent ; I know it,
though I have said nothing of it because one that
is dear to me has interceded for you. You were
the priest of the false god, and with that god are
fallen from your place, yet you have not renounced
him. You sit still in your kraal and pretend to be
asleep, but your slumber is that of the serpent
which watches his time to strike. How do I know
that you would not poison me as you would have
poisoned my father, or stir up rebellion against
me, or bring my brother's impis on my head ? "

"If the King thinks any of these things of his
servant," answered Hokosa in a humble voice,
but with dignity, " his path is plain : let him put
me to death and sleep in peace, for who am I that
I should fill the ears of a king with my defence
against these charges, or dare to wrangle with
him ? "

" Long ago I should have put you to death,
Hokosa," answered Nodwengo, sternly, "had it
not been that one has pleaded for you, declaring
that in you there is good which shall overcome
the evil, and that you who now are an axe to cut
down my throne in time to come shall be a roof-
tree to support it. Also, the law that I obey will
not allow me to take the blood of men save upon
full proof, and against you as yet I have no proof.
Still, Hokosa, be warned in time, and let your heart

146 THE WIZARD

be turned before the grave claims your body and the
Wicked One your soul."

" I thank you, King, for your gentle words and
your tender care for my well-being both on the
earth and after I shall leave it. But I tell you,
King, that I had rather die as your father would
have killed me in the old days, or your brother
would kill me now, did either of them hate or fear
me, than live on in safety owing my life to a new
law and a new mercy that do not befit the great
ones of the earth. King, I am your servant,"
and giving him the royal salute, he rose and left
his presence.

" At the least there goes a man," said Nodwengo,
as he watched him depart.

" Of whom do you speak, King ? " asked Owen,
who at that moment entered the Royal House.

" Of him whom you must have touched in the
doorway, Messenger, Hokosa the wizard," answered
the King, and he told him of what had passed between
them. " I said," he added, " that he was a man,
and so he is ; yet I hold that I have done wrong to
listen to your pleading and to spare him, for I am
certain that he will bring bloodshed upon me and
trouble on the Faith. Think now, Messenger, how
full must be that man's heart of secret rage and hatred,
he who was so great and is now so little ! Will he
not certainly strive to grow great again ? Will he
not strive to be avenged, upon those who humbled
him and the religion they have adopted ? "

" It may be," answered Owen, " but if so, he

THE BASKET OF FRUIT 147

will not conquer. I tell you, King, that like water
hidden in a rock there is good in this man's heart,
and that I shall yet find a rod wherewith to cause
it to gush out and refresh the desert,"

" It is more likely that he will find a spear where-
with to cause your blood to gush out and refresh
the jackals," answered the King, grimly ; " but be
it as you will. And now, what of your business ? "

" This, King : John, my servant, has returned
from the coast countries, and he brings me a letter
saying that before long three white teachers will
follow him to take up the work that I have begun.
I pray that when they come, for my sake and for
the sake of the truth that I have taught you, you
will treat them kindly and protect them, 'remem-
bering that at first they will know little of your
language or your customs."

" I will indeed," said the King, with much concern.
" But tell me, Messenger, why do you speak of
yourself as of one who soon will be but a memory ?
Do you purpose to leave us ? "

" No, King, but I|believe that ere long I shall be
recalled. I have given my message, my task is well-
nigh ended, and I must be turning home. Save for
your sakes I do not sorrow thereat, for to speak
truth I grow very weary," and he smiled sadly.

Hokosa went home alarmed and full of bitter-
ness, for he had never guessed that the " servant
of the Messenger," as he called Nodwengo the
King, knew so much about him and his plans.

148 THE WIZARD

His fall was hard to him, but to be thus measured
up, weighed, and contemptuously forgiven was
almost more than he could bear. It was the white
prophet who had done this thing ; he had told
Nodwengo of his, Hokosa's, share in the plot to
murder the late King Umsuka, though how he
came to know of that matter was beyond guessing.
He had watched him, or caused him to be watched,
when he went forth to consult spirits in the place
of the dead ; he had warned Nodwengo against him.
Worst of all, he had dared to treat him with contempt ;
had pleaded for his life and safety, so that he was
spared as men spare a snake from which the charmer
has drawn the fangs. When they met in the gate of
the King's house yonder this white thief, who had
stolen his place and power, had even smiled upon him
and greeted him kindly, and doubtless while he
smiled, by aid of the magic he possessed, had read
him through and gone on to tell the story to the King.
Well, of this there should be an end ; he would kill
the Messenger, or himself be killed.

When Hokosa reached his kraal he found Noma
sitting beneath a fruit tree that grew in it, idly
employed in stringing beads, for the work of the house-
hold she left to his other wife, Zinti, an old and
homely woman who thought more of the brewing
of the beer and the boiling of the porridge than of
religions or politics or of the will of kings. Of late
Noma had haunted the shadow of this tree,! for
beneath it lay Jhat child which had been born ^ to
her.

THE BASKET OF FRUIT U§

" Does it please the King to grant leave for my
journey ? " she asked, looking up.

" Yes, it pleases him."

" I am thankful," she answered, " for I think
that if I bide here much longer, with ghosts and
memories for company, I shall go mad," and she
glanced at a spot near by, where the earth showed
signs of recent disturbance.

" He gives leave," Hokosa went on, taking no

notice of her speech, " but he suspects us. Listen

and he told her of the talk that had passed between
himself and the King.

" The white man has read you as he reads in
his written books," she answered, with a little laugh.
" Well, I said that he would be too clever for you,
did I not ? It does not matter to me, for to-morrow
I go upon my journey, and you can settle it as you
will."

" Ay," answered Hokosa, grinding his teeth, " it is
true that he has read me ; but this I promise you,
that all books shall soon be closed to him. Yet
how is it to be done without suspicion or discovery ?
I know many poisons, but all of them must be
administered, and let him work never so cunningly,
he who gives a poison can be traced."

" Then cause some other to give it and let him
bear the blame," suggested Noma, languidly.

Hokosa made no answer, but walking to the
gate of the kraal, which was open, he leaned against
it lost in thought. As he stood thus he saw a woman
advancing towards him, who carried on her head

150 THE WIZARD

a small basket of fruit, and knew her for one of those
whose business it was to wait upon the Messenger
in his huts, or rather in his house, for by now he had
built himself a house, and near it a little chapel.
This woman saw Hokosa also and looked at him
sideways, as though she would like to stop and speak
to him, but feared to do so.

" Good morrow to you, friend," he said. " How
goes it with your husband and your house ? "

Now Hokosa knew well that this woman's husband
had taken a dislike to her and driven her from his
home, filling her place with one younger and more
attractive. -At the question the woman's lips began
to tremble and her eyes swam with tears.

"Ah! great doctor,"' she said, "why do you
ask of my husband ? Have you not heard that he
has driven me away and that another takes my
place ? "

" Do I hear all the gossip of this town ? " asked
Hokosa, with a smile. " But come in and tell me
the story ; perchance I may be able to help you,
for I have charms to compel the fancy of such
faithless ones."

The woman looked round, and seeing that there
was no one in sight, she slipped swiftly through
the gate of the kraal, which he closed behind
her.

" Noma," said Hokosa, " here is one who tells
me that her husband has deserted her, and who
comes to seek my counsel. Bring her milk to
drink."

THE BASKET OF FRUIT 151

" There are some wives who would not find that
so great an evil," replied Noma, mockingly, as she
rose to do his bidding.

Hokosa winced at the sarcasm, and turning to
his visitor, said :

" Now tell me your tale ; but say first, why are
you so frightened ? "

" I am frightened, master," she answered, " lest
any should have seen me enter here, for I have
become a Christian, and the Christians are forbidden
to consult the Witch-doctors, as we were wont to
do. For my case, it is "

" No need to set it out," broke in Hokosa, waving
his hand. " I see it written on your face ; your
husband has put you away and loves another woman,
your own half sister whom you brought up from a
child."

" Ah ! master, you have heard aright."

" I have not heard, I look upon you and I see.

Fool, am I not a wizard ? Tell me " and taking

dust into his hand, he blew the grains this way and
that, regarding them curiously. " Yes, it is so.
Last night you crept to your husband's hut — do
you remember, a dog growled at you as you passed
the gate ? — and there in front of the hut he sat with
his new wife. She saw you coming, but pretending
not to see, she threw her arms about his neck, kissing
and fondling him before your eyes, till you could
bear it no longer, and revealed yourself, upbraiding
them. Then your rival taunted you and stirred him
up with bitter words, till at length he took a stick and

152 THE WIZARD

beat you from the door, and there is the mark of
it upon your shoulder."

" It is true, it is too true ! " she groaned.

" Yes, it is true. And now, what do you wish
from me ? "

" Master, I wish a medicine to make my husband
hate my rival and to draw his heart back to me."

" That must be a strong medicine," said Hokosa,
" which will turn a man from one who is young
and beautiful to one who is past her youth and
ugly."

" I am as I am," answered the poor woman,
with a touch of natural dignity, " but at least I
have loved him and worked for him for twelve
long years."

"And that is why he would now be rid of you,
for who cumbers his kraal with old cattle ? "

" And yet at times they are the best, Master.
Wrinkles and smooth skin seem strange upon one
pillow," she added, glancing at Noma, who came
from the hut carrying a bowl of milk in her hand.

" If you seek counsel," said Hokosa, quickly,
" why do you not go to the white man, that Messenger
in whom you believe, and ask him for a potion to
turn your husband's heart ? "

" Master, I have been to him, and he is very
good to me, for when I was driven out he gave
me work to do and food. But he told me that he
had no medicine for such cases, and that the Great
Man in the sky alone could soften the breast of my
husband and cause my sister to cease from her

THE BASKET OF FRUIT 153

wickedness. Last night I went to see whether He
would do it, dnd you know what befell me there."

" That befell you which' befalls all fools who put
their trust in words alone. What will you pay me,
woman, if I give you the medicine which you seek ? "

" Alas, master, I am poor. I have nothing to
offer you, for when I would not stay in my husband's
kraal to be a servant to his new wife, he took the
cow and the five goats that belonged to me, as, I
being childless, according to our ancient law he
had the right to do."

" You are bold who come to ask a doctor to
minister to you, bearing no fee in your hand," said
Hokosa. " Yet, because I have pity on you, I will
be content with very little. Give me that basket of
fruit, for my wife has been sick and loves the taste
of it."

" I cannot do that, master," answered the woman,
" for it is sent, by my hand as a present to the
Messenger, and he knows this and will eat of it after
he has made prayer to-day. Did I not give it to
him, it would be discovered that I had left it here
with you."

" Then begone without your medicine," said
Hokosa, " for I need such fruit."

The woman rose and said, looking at him wistfully :

" Master, if you will be satisfied with other fruits
of the same sort, I know where I can get them for
YOU."

" When will you get them ? "

" Now, within an hour. And till I return I will

154 THE WIZARD

leave these in pledge with you ; but these and no
other I must give to the Messenger, for he has
already seen them and might discover the difference ;
also I have promised so to do."

" As you will," said Hokosa. " If you are here
with the fruit within an hour, the medicine will be
ready for you, a medicine that shall not fail."

CHAPTER XIV

/

THE EATING OF THE FRUIT

THE woman slipped away secretly. When she had
gone Hokosa bade his wife bring the basket of fruit
into the hut.

" It is best that the butcher should kill the ox
himself," she answered meaningly.

He carried in the basket and set it on the floor.

" Why do you speak thus, Noma ? " he asked.

" Because I will have no hand in the matter,
Hokosa. • I have been the tool of a wizard, and
won little joy therefrom. The tool of a murderer
I will not be ! "

" If I kill, it is for the sake of botH of us," he said,
passionately. %

" It may be so, Hokosa, or for the sake of the
people, or for the sake of Heaven above — I do not
know and do not care ; but I say, do your own
killing, for I am sure that even less luck will hang
to it than hangs to your witchcraft."

" Of all women you are the most perverse ! " he
said, stamping his foot upon the ground.

" And so you may say again before everything
is done, husband ; but if it be so, why do you love

155

156 THE WIZARD

me and tie me to you with your wizardry ? Cut
the knot, and let me go my way while you go
yours."

*' Woman, I cannot ; but still I bid you beware,
for, strive as you will, my path must be your path.
Moreover, till I free you, you cannot lift voice or
hand against me."

Then, while she watched him curiously, he fetched
his medicines and took from .them some powder
fine as dust and two tiny crowquills. Placing a
fruit before him, he inserted one of these quills into
its substance, and filling the second with the powder,
he shook its contents into it and withdrew the tube.
This process he repeated four times on each of the
fruits, replacing them one by one in the basket.
So deftly did he work upon them, that however
closely they were scanned none could^guess that
they had been tampered with.

" Will it kill at once ? " asked Noma.

" No, indeed ; but he who eats those fruits will
be seized on the third day with dysentery and fever,
and these will cling to him till within seven weeks—
or if he be very strong, three months— he dies.
This is the best of poisons, for it works through
Nature and none can trace it."

" Except, perchance, that Spirit Whom the white
man worships, and Who also works through Nature,
as you learned, Hokosa, when He rolled the lightning
back upon your head, shattering your god and
beating down your company."

Then of a sudden a terror seized the wizard,

THE EATING OF THE FRUIT 157

and springing to his feet, he cursed his wife till she
trembled before him.

" Vile woman, and double-faced ! " he said, " why
do you push me forward with one hand and with the
other drag me back ? Why do you whisper evil
counsel into one ear and into the other prophesy
of misfortunes to come ? Had it not been for you,
I should have let this business lie ; I should have
taken my fate and have been content. But day by
day you have taunted me with my fall and grieved
over the greatness that you have lost, till at length
you have driven me to this. Why cannot you be
all good or all wicked, or at the least, through
righteousness and sin, faithful to my interest and
your own ? "

" Because I hate you, Hokosa, and yet can strike
you only through my tongue and your mad love
for me. I am fast in your power, but thus at
least I can make you feel something of my own
pain. Hark ! I hear that woman at the gate.
Will you give her back the basket, or will you
not ? Whatever you may choose to do, do not
say in after days that I urged you to the deed."

" Truly you are great-hearted ! " ha answered,
with cold contempt ; " one for whom I did well to
enter into treachery and sin ! So be it : having
gone so far upon it, I will not turn back from this
journey, come what may of it. Let in that fool ! "

Presently the woman stood before them, bearing
with her another basket of fruit.

" These are ^what you seek, Master," she said,

7

158 THE WIZARD

" though I was forced to win them by theft. Now
give me my own and the medicine and let me go. '

He gave her the first basket, and with it, wrapped
in a piece of kidskin, some of the same powder with
which he had doctored the fruits.

" What shall I do with this ? " she asked.

" You shall find means to sprinkle it upon your
sister's food, and thereafter your husband shall
come to hate even the sight of her."

" But will he come to love me again ? "

Hokosa shrugged his shoulders.

" I know not," he answered ; " that is for you
to see to. Yet this is sure, that if a tree grows
up before the house of a man shutting it off from
the sunlight, when that tree is cut down the sun
shines upon his house again."

" It is nothing to the sun on what he shines,"
said the woman.

"If the saying does not please you, then forget
it. I promise you this and no more, that very
soon the man shall cease to turn to your rival."

" The medicine will not harm her ? " asked the
woman doubtfully. "She has worked me bitter
wrong indeed, yet she is my sister, whom I nursed
when she was little, and I do not wish to do her
hurt. If only he will welcome me back and treat
me kindly, I am willing even that she should dwell
on beneath my husband's roof, bearing his children,
for will they not be of my own blood ? "

"Woman," answered Hokosa impatiently, "you
weary me with your talk. Did I say that the

THE EATING OF THE FRUIT 159

charm would hurt her ? I said that it would cause
your husband to hate the sight of her. Now be
gone, taking or leaving it, and let me rest. If your
mind is troubled, throw aside that medicine, and
go soothe it with such sights as that you saw last
night."

On hearing this the woman sprang up, hid away
the poison in her hair, arid taking her basket of
fruit, passed from the kraal as secretly as she had
entered it.

" Why did you give her death-medicine ? " asked
Noma of Hokosa, as he stood staring after her.
" Have you a hate to satisfy against the husband
or the girl who is her rival ? "

" None," he answered, " for they have never crossei
my path. Oh, foolish woman ! cannot you read
my plan ? "

" Not altogether, husband."

" Listen then : this woman will give to her sister

. a medicine of which in the end she will die. She

may be discovered or she may not, but it is certain

. - that she will be suspected, seeing that the bitterness

• of the quarrel between them is known. Also she

will give to the Messenger certain fruits, after eating

of which he will be taken sick and in due time die,

of just such a disease as that which carries off the

woman's rival. Now, if any think that he is poisoned,

.- which I trust none will, whom will they suppose to

| have poisoned him, though indeed they can never

prove it ? "

" The plan is clever," said Noma with admiration,

160 THE WIZARD

" but I see a flaw in it. The woman will say that
she had the drug from you, or, at the least, will
babble of her visit to you."

" Not so," answered Hokosa, " for on this matter
the greatest talker in the world would keep silence.
Firstly, she, being a Christian, dare not own that
she has visited the witch-doctor ; secondly, the
fruit she brought in payment was stolen, therefore
she will say nothing of it ; thirdly, to admit that
she had the medicine from me would be to admit her
guilt, and that she will scarcely do even under
torture, which .by the new law it is not lawful to
apply. Moreover, none saw her come here, and I
should deny her visit."

"The plan is very clever," said Noma again.

" It is very clever," he repeated, complacently ;
"never have I made a better one. Now throw
those fruits to the she-goats that are in the kraal,
and burn the basket, while I go and talk to some
in the Great Place, telling them that I have returned
from counting my cattle on the mountain, whither
I went after I had bowed the knee in the house of
the King."

Two hours later, Hokosa, having made a wide
detour and talked to sundry of his acquaintances
about the condition of his cattle, might have been
seen walking slowly along the north side of the
Great Place towards his own kraal. His path lay
past the chapel and the little house that Owen
had built to dwell in. This house had a broad

THE EATING OF THE FRUIT 161

verandah, and upon it sat the Messenger himself,
eating his evening meal. Hokosa saw him, and a
great desire entered his heart to learn whether or
no he had partaken of the poisoned fruit. Also it
occurred to him that it would be wise if, before
the end came, he could contrive to divert all possible
suspicion from himself, by giving the impression
that he was now upon friendly terms with the great
white teacher and not disinclined even to become a
convert to his doctrine. For a moment he hesitated,
seeking an excuse. One soon suggested itself to
his ready mind. That very morning the King had
told him not obscurely that Owen had pleaded for
his safety and saved him from being put upon his
trial on charges of witchcraft and murder. He would
go to him, now at once, playing the part of a grateful
penitent, and the White Man's magic must be keen
indeed if it availed to pierce the armour of Ms
practised craft.

So Hokosa went up and squatted himself down
native fashion among a little group of converts
who were waiting to see their teacher upon one
business or another. He was not more than ten
paces from the verandah, and sitting thus he saw a
sight that interested him strangely. Having eaten
a little of a dish of roasted meat, Owen put out his
hand and took a fruit from a basket that the wizard
knew well. At this moment he looked up and
recognised Hokosa.

" Do you desire speech with me, Hokosa ? " he asked
in his gentle voice. " If so, be pleased to come hither."

162 THE WIZARD

"Nay, Messenger," answered Hokosa, "I desire
speech with you indeed, but it is ill to stand between
a hungry man and his food."

" I care little for my food," answered Owen ; " at
the least it can wait," and he put down the fruit.

Then suddenly a feeling to which the wizard
had been for many years a stranger took possession
of him — a feeling of compunction. That man was
about to partake of what would cause his death—-
of what he, Hokosa, had prepared in order tljat it
should cause his death. He was good, he was
kindly, none could allege a wrong deed against him
and, foolishness though it might be, so was the
doctrine that he taught. Why should he kill him ?
It was true that never till that moment had he
hesitated, by fair means or foul, to remove an enemy
or rival from his path. He had been brought up in
this teaching ; it was part of the education of wizards
to be merciless, for they reigned by terror and evil
craft. Their magic lay in clairvoyance and powers of
observation developed to a pitch that was almost
superhuman, and the chief of their weapons was
poison in infinite variety, whereof the guild alone
understood the properties and preparation. There-
fore there was nothing strange, nothing unusual
in this deed of devilish and canning murder that
the sight of its doing should stir him thus, and
yet it did stir him. He was minded to stop the
plot, to let things take their course.

Some sense of the futility of all such strivings
came home to him, and as in a glass, for Hokosa

THE EATING OF THE FRUIT 163

was a man of imagination, he foresaw their end. A
little success, a little failure, it scarcely mattered
which, and then — that end. Within twenty years,
or ten, or mayhap even one, what would this present
victory or defeat mean to him ? Nothing so far
as he was concerned ; that is, nothing so far as his
life of to-day was concerned. Yet, if he had another
life, it might mean everything. There was another
life, he knew it, who had dragged back from its
borders the spirits of the dead, though what might
be the state and occupations of those dead he did
not know. Yet he believed — why he could not tell
—that they were affected vitally by their acts and
behaviour here ; and his intelligence warned him
that good must always flow from good, and evil from
evil. To kill this man was evil, and only evil could
come of it. What did he care whether Hafela ruled
the nation or Nodwengo, and whether it worshipped
the God of the Christians or the God of Fire — who, by
the way, had proved himself so singularly inefficient
in the hour of trial. Now that he thought of it,
he much preferred Nodwengo to Hafela, for the
one was a just man and the other a tyrant ; and
he himself was more comfortable as a wealthy
private person than he had been as a head medicine-
man and a chief of wizards. He would let things
stand ; he would prevent the Messenger from eating
of that fruit. A word could do it ; he had but to
suggest that it was unripe or not wholesome at this
season of the year, and it would be cast aside.
All these reflections passed through Hokosa's

164 TH£ WIZARD

mind in a few minutes of time, and already he was
rising to go to the verandah and translate their
moral into acts, when another thought occurred
to him — How should he face Noma with this tale ?
He could give up his own ambitions, but could he
bear her mockery, as day by day she taunted him
with his faint-heartedness and reproached him with
his failure to regain greatness and to make her great ?
He forgot that he might conceal the truth from her ;
or rather, he did not contemplate suchfconcealment,
for their relations were too peculiar and too intimate
to permit of it. She hated him, and he worshipped
her with a half-inhuman passion — a passion so
unnatural, indeed, that it suggested the horrid
and insatiable longings of the damned, — and yet
their souls were naked to each other. It was
their fate that they could hide nothing each from
each — they were cursed with the awful necessity
of perfect candour. It would be impossible that
he should keep from Noma anything that he did
or did not do ; it would be still more impossible
that she could conceal from him even such imaginings
and things as it is common for women to hold secret.
Her very bitterness, which it had been policy for her
to cloak or soften, would gush from her lips at the
sight of him ; nor, in the depth of his rage and
torment, could he, on the other hand, control the
ill-timed utterance of his continual and overmastering
passion. It came to this, then : he must go forward,
and against his better judgment, because he was
afraid to go back, for the whip of a woman's tongue

THE EATING OF THE FRUIT 165

drove him on remorselessly. It was better that the
Messenger should die and the land run red with
blood than that he should be forced to endure this
scourge.

So with a sigh, Hokosa sank back to the ground
and watched while Owen ate three of the poisoned
fruits. After a pause, he took a fourth and bit
into it, but not seeming to find it to his taste, he
threw it to a child that was waiting by the verandah
for any scraps which might be left over from his
meal, who caught it and devoured it eagerly.

Then, smiling at the little boy's delight, the
Messenger called to Hokosa to come up and speak
with him.

CHAPTER XV

NOMA COMES TO HAFELA

HOKOSA advanced to the verandah, and bowed to
white man with grave dignity.

" Be seated," said Owen. " Will you not eat ?
though I have nothing to offer you but these,"
and he pushed the basket of fruit towards him,
adding, " The best of them, I fear, are alread}
gone."

" I thank you, no, Messenger ; such fruits are
not always wholesome at this season of the year.
I have known them to breed dysentery."

"Indeed," said Owen. "If so, I trust that 1 1
may escape it. I have suffered from that sickness,
and I think that another bout of it would kill me.
In future I will avoid them. But what do you seek
with me, Hokosa ? Enter and tell me," and he led
the way infd a little sitting-room.

" Messenger," said the wizard, with deep humility,
" I am a proud man ; I have been a great man, and
it is no light thing to me to humble myself before the
face of my conqueror. Yet I am come to this.
To-day when I was in audience with the King,
craving a small boon of his graciousness, he spoke to
166

NOMA COMES TO HAFELA 167

me sharp and bitter words. He told me that he had
been minded to put me on trial for my life because of
various misdoings which are alleged against me in the
past, but that you had pleaded for me and that
for this cause he spared me. I come to thank you
for your gentleness, Messenger, for I think that had
I been in your place I should have whispered otherwise
in the ear of the King."

" Say no more of it, friend/1 said Owen, kindly.
" We are all of us sinners, and it is my place* to
push back your ancient sins, not to drag them
into the light of day and clamour for their punish-
ment. It is true I know that you plotted with
the Prince Hafela to poison Umsuka the King,
for it was revealed to me. It qhanced, however,
that I was able to recover Umsuka from his sickness,
and Hafela is fled, so why should I bring up the deed
against you ? It is true that you still practise
witchcraft, and that you hate and strive against
the holy Faith which I preach ; but you were brought
up to wizardry and have been the priest of another
creed, and these things plead for you. Also, Hokosa,
I can see the good and evil struggling in your soul,
and I pray and I believe that in the end the good
will master the evil ; that you who have been
pre-eminent in sin will come to be pre-eminent in
righteousness. Oh ! be not stubborn, but listen with
your ear, and let your heart be softened. The gate
stands open, and I am the guide appointed to show
you the way without reward or fee. Follow then
ere it be too late, that in time to come when my voice

168 THE WIZARD

is stilled you also may be able to direct the feet
of wanderers into the paths of peace. It is the hour
of prayer ; follow me then, I beg of you, and listen
to some few words of the message on my lips, and
let your spirit be nurtured with them and the Sun
of Truth arise upon its darkness."

-Hokosa heard, and before this simple eloquence
his wisdom was confounded. More, his intelligence
was stirred, and a desire came upon him to inves-
tigate and examine the canons of a creed that
could produce such men as this. He made no
answer, but waiting while Owen robed himself, he
followed him to the chapel. It was full of new-made
Christians who crowded even the doorways, but
they gave place to him, wondering. Then the service
began — a short and simple service. First Owen
offered up some prayer for the welfare of the infant
Church, for the conversion of the unbelieving, for the
safety of the King and the happiness of the people.
Then John, the Messenger's first disciple, read aloud
from a manuscript a portion of the Scripture which
his master had translated. It was St. Paul's ex-
position of the resurrection from the dead, and
the grandeur of its thoughts and language were
by no means lost upon Hokosa, who, savage and
heathen though he might be, was also a man of
intellect.

The reading over, Owen addressed the congre-
gation, taking for his text, "Thy sin shall find
thee out." Being now a master of the language,
he preached very well and earnestly, and indeed

NOMA; COMES TO HAFELA 169

the subject was not difficult to deal with in the
presence of an audience many of whose pasts had
been steeped in iniquities of no common kind.
As he talked of judgment to come for the unrepentant,
some of his hearers groaned and even wept, and when,
changing his note, he dwelt upon the blessed future
state of those who earned forgiveness, their faces
were lighted up with joy. But perhaps among all
those gathered before him there were none more
deeply interested than Hokosa and one other, that
woman to whom he had sold the poison, and who,
as it chanced, sat next to him. Hokosa, watching
her face as he was skilled to do, saw the thrusts of
the preacher go home, and grew sure that already in
her jealous haste she had found opportunity to
sprinkle the medicine upon her rival's food. ' She
believed it to be but a charm indeed, yet knowing
that in using such charms she had done wickedly,
she trembled between the words of denunciation,
and rising at length, crept from the chapel.

" Truly, her sin will find her out," thought Hokosa
to himself, and then in a strange, half -impersonal
fashion he turned his thoughts to the consideration
of his own case. Would his sin find him out ? he
wondered. Before he could answer that question,
it was necessary first to determine whether or no he
had committed a sin. The man before him — that
gentle and yet impassioned man — bore in his vitals the
seed of death which he, Hokosa, had planted there.
Was it wrong to have done this ? It depended
by what standard the deed was judged. According

170 THE WIZARD

to his own code, the code in which he had been
educated and which hitherto he had followed with
exactness, it was not wrong. That code taught the
necessity of self -aggrandisement, or at least and at
all costs the necessity of self-preservation. This
white preacher stood in his path ; he had humiliated
him, and in the end, either of himself or through
his influences, it was probable that he would destroy
him. Therefore he must strike before in his own
person he received a mortal blow, and having no
other means at his command, he struck through
treachery and poison.

That was his law which for many generations
had been followed and respected by his class with
the tacit assent of the nation. According to this
law, then, he had done no wrong. But now the
victim by the altar, who did not know that already
he was bound upon the altar, preached a new and
a v6ry different doctrine under which, were it to
be believed, he, Hokosa, was one of the worst of
sinners. The matter, then, resolved itself to this :
which of these two rules of life was the right rule ?
Which of them should a man follow to satisfy his
conscience and to secure his abiding welfare ? Apart
from the motives that swayed him, as a mere matter
of ethics, this problem interested Hokosa not a little,
and he went homewards determined to solve it if
he might. That could be done in one way only—
by a close examination of both systems. The first
he knew well ; he had practised it for nearly forty
years. Of the second he had but an inkling. Also,

NOMA COMES TO HAFELA 171

if he would learn more of it he must make haste,
seeing that its exponent in some short while would
cease to be in a position to set it out.

" I trust that you will come again," said Owen
to Hokosa as they left the chapel.

" Yes, indeed, Messenger," answered the wizard ;
" I will come every day, and, if you permit it, I will
attend your private teachings also, for I accept
nothing without examination, and I greatly desire
to study this new doctrine of yours, root and flower
and fruit."

On the morrow Noma started upon her journey.
As the matrons who accompanied her gave out
with a somewhat suspicious persistency, its ostensible
object was to visit the Mount of Purification, and
there by fastings and solitude to purge herself of the
sin of having given birth to a stillborn child ; for
amongst savage peoples such an accident is apt to
be looked upon as little short of a crime, or, at the
least, as indicating that the woman concerned is the
object of the indignation of spirits who need to be
appeased. To this mount, then, Noma went, and
there performed the customary rites.

"Little wonder," she thought to herself, "that
the spirits were angry with her, seeing that yonder
in the burying-place of kings she had dared to break
in upon their rest."

From the Mount of Purification she travelled
on ten days' journey with her companions till they
reached the mountain fastness where Hafela had

172 THE WIZARD

established himself. The place was of extraordinary
strength, and so well guarded that it was only after
considerable difficulty and delay that the women
were admitted. Hearing of her arrival and that
she had words for him, Hafela sent for Noma at once,
receiving her by night and alone in his principal hut.
She came and stood before him, and he looked at her
beauty with admiring eyes, for he could not forget
the woman whom the cunning of Hokosa had forced
him to put away.

" Whence come you, pretty one ? " he asked,
" and wherefore come you ? Are you weary of
your husband, that you fly back to me ? * If so,
you are welcome indeed ; for knowr, Noma, that I
still love you."

" Ay, Prince, I am weary of my husband sure
enough ; but I do not fly to you, for he holds me
fast to him with bonds that you cannot understand,
and fast to him while he lives I must remain."

" What hinders, Noma, that having got you here
I should keep you here ? The cunning and magic
of Hokosa may be great, but they will need to be still
greater to win you from my arms."

"This hinders, Prince, that you are playing for
a higher stake than that of a woman's love, and
if you deal thus by me and my husband, then of a
surety you will lose it."

" What stake, Noma ? "

" The stake of the crown of the People of Fire."

" And why should I lose it if I take you as a wife ? "

" Because Hokosa, seeing that I do not return

NOMA COMES TO HAFELA 173

and learning from his spies why I do not return,
will warn the King, and by many means bring all
your plans to nothing. Listen now to the words
of Hokosa that he has set between my lips to deliver
to you " — and she repeated to him all the message
without fault or fail.

" Say it again," he said, and she obeyed.

Then he answered :

" Truly the skill of Hokosa is great, and well he
knows how to set a snare ; but I think that if by his
counsel I should springe the bird, he will be too clever
a man to keep upon the threshold of the throne.
He who sets one snare may set twain, and he who sits
by the threshold may desire to enter the house of
kings wherein there is no space for two to dwell."

" Is this the answer that I am to take back to
Hokosa ? " asked Noma. " It will scarcely bind
him to your cause, Prince, and I wonder that you
dare to speak it to me who am his wife."

" I dare to speak it to you, Noma, because, although
you be his wife, all wives do not love their lords ;
and I think that, perchance in days to come, you
would choose rather to hold the hand of a young
king than that of a witch-doctor sinking into eld.
Thus shall you answer Hokosa : You shall say to
him that I have heard his words and that I find them
very good, and will walk along the path which he has
made. Here before you I swear by the oath that
may not be broken — the sacred oath, calling down
ruin upon my head should I break one word of it —
that if by his aid I succeed in this great venture,

174 THE WIZARD

I will pay him the price he asks. After myself, the
King, he shall be the greatest man among the people ;
he shall be general of the armies, he shall be Captain
of the Council and head of the doctors, and to him
shall be given half the cattle of Nodwengo. Also,
into his hands I will deliver all those who cling to
this faith of the Christians, and, if it pleases him, he
shall offer them as a sacrifice to his god. This
I swear, and you, Noma, are witness to the oath.
Yet it may chance that after he, Hokosa, has gathered
up all this pomp and greatness, he himself shall
be gathered up by Death, that harvest man who soon
or late will garner every ear ; " and he looked at her
meaningly.

" It may be so, Prince," she answered.
" It may be so," he repeated, " and when—
" When it is so, then, Prince, we will talk together,
but not till then. Nay, touch me not, for where
he to command me, Hokosa has this power over me
that I must show him all that you have done,
keeping nothing back. Let me go now to the place
that is made ready for me, and afterwards you shall
tell me again and more fully the words that I must
say to Hokosa my husband."

On the morrow Hafela held a secret council of
his great men, and the next day an embassy departed
to Nodwengo the King, taking to "him that message
which Hokosa, through Noma his wife, had put
into the lips of the Prince. Twenty days later the
embassy returned sayiflg that it pleased the King to
grant the prayer of his brother Hafela, and bringing

NOMA COMES TO HAFELA 175

with it the tidings that the white man, Messenger,
had fallen sick and it was thought that he would die.
So in due course the women and children of
the people of Hafela started upon their journey
towards the new land where it was given out that
they should live, and with them went Noma, pur-
posing to leave them as they drew near the gates of
the Great Place of the King. A while after Hafela
and his impis followed with carriers bearing their
fighting shields in bundles, and having their stabbing
spears rolled up in mats.

. CHAPTER XVI

THE REPENTANCE OF HOKOSA

HoSosA kept his promise. On the morrow of his
first attendance there he was again to be seen in the
chapel, and after the service was over he waited on
Owen at his house and listened to his private teaching.
Day by day he appeared thus, till at length he
became master of the whole doctrine of Christianity,
and discovered that that which at first had struck
him as childish and even monstrous, now presented
itself to him in a new and very different light. The
conversion of Hokosa came upon him through the.
gate of reason, not as is usual among savages by
that of the emotions. Given the position of a
universe torn and groaning beneath the dual rule of
Good and Evil, two powers of well-nigh equal potency,
he found no great difficulty in accepting this tale
of the self-sacrifice of the God of Good that He
might wring the race He loved out of the conquering
grasp of the god of 111. There was a simple majesty
about this scheme of redemption which appealed
to one side of his nature. Indeed, Hokosa felt that
under certain conditions and in a more limited
fashion he would have been capable of attempting
as much himself.

176

THE REPENTANCE OF ^ HOKOSA 177

Once his reason was convinced the rest followed
in a natural sequence. Within three weeks from
the hour of his first attendance at the chapel Hokosa
was at heart a Christian.

He was a Christian, although as yet he did not
confess it ; but he was also the most miserable
man among the nation of the Sons of Fire. The
iniquities of his past life had become abominable
to him ; but he had committed them in ignorance,
and he understood that they were not beyond
forgiveness. Yet high above them all towered one
colossal crime which, as he believed, could never
be pardoned to him in this world or the next. He
was the treacherous murderer of the Messenger of
God ; he was in the act of silencing the Voice that
had proclaimed truth in the dark places of his
soul and the dull ears of his countrymen. The
deed was done ; no power on earth could save
him. Within a week from eating that fatal fruit
Owen had begun to sicken, then the dysentery had
seized him which slowly but surely was wasting his
life away, and he, the murderer, was helpless, for with
this form of the disease no medicine could cope.
With agony in his heart, an agony that was shared by
thousands of the people, Hokosa watched the decrease
of the white man's strength, and reckoned the days
that would elapse before the end. Having such sin
as this upon his soul, though Owen entreated him
earnestly, he^would not permit himself to be baptised.
Twice he went near to consenting, but on each
occasion an ominous and terrible incident drove him

178 THE WIZARD

from the door of mercy. Once, when the words
" I will " were almost on his lips, a woman broke in
upon their conference bearing a dying boy in her
arms.

" Save him," she implored, " save him, Messenger,
for he is my only son ! "

Owen looked at him and shook his head.

" How came he like this ? " he asked.

" I know not, Messenger, but he has been sick
ever since he ate of a certain fruit which you gave
to him ; " and she recalled to his mind the incident
of the throwing of the fruit to the child, for she
had witnessed it.

" I remember," said Owen. " It is strange, but
I also have been sick from the day that I ate of
those fruits ; yes, and you, Hokosa, warned me
against them/'

Then he blessed the boy and prayed over him
till he died ; but when afterwards he looked round
for Hokosa, it was to find that he had gone.

Some eight days later, having to a certain extent
recovered from this shock, Hokosa went one morning
to Owen's house and talked to him.

" Messenger," he said, " is it necessary to baptism
that I should confess all my sins to you ? If so,
I can never be baptised, for there is wickedness upon
my hands which I am unable to tellinto the ear of
living man."

Owen thought and answered :
" It is necessary that you should repent of all
your sins, and that you should confess them to

THE REPENTANCE OF HOKOSA 179

Heaven ; it is not necessary that you should confess
them to me, who am but a man like yourself."

" Then I will be baptised," said Hokosa with a
sigh of relief.

At this moment, as it chanced, their interview was
again interrupted, for runners came from the King
requesting the immediate presence of the Messenger,
if he were well enough to attend, upon a matter
connected with the trial of a woman for murder.
Thinking that he might be of service, Owen, leaning
on the shoulder of Hfeosa.^ior already he was too
weak to walk far, crept to the litter which was
waiting for him and was borne to the place of judg-
ment that was before the House of the King. Hokosa
followed, more from curiosity than for any other
reason, for he had heard of no murder being com-
mitted, and his old desire to be acquainted with
everything that passed was still strong on him. The
people made way for him, and he seated himself in
the first line of spectators immediately opposite 'to
the King and three other captains who were judges
in the case. So soon as Owen had joined the judges
the prisoner was brought before them, and to his
secret terror Hokosa recognised in her that woman
to whom he had given the poison in exchange for
the basket of fruit.

Now it seemed that his doom was on him, for
she would certainly confess that she had the drug
from him. He thought of flight only to reject the
idea, for to fly would be to acknowledge himself
an accessory. No, he would brazen it out, for

180 THE WIZARD

after all his word was as good as hers. With the
prisoner came an accuser, her husband, who seemed
sick, and he it was who opened the case against her.

" This woman," he said, " was my wife. I divorced
her for barrenness, as I have a right to do according
to our ancient law, and I took another woman to
wife, her half-sister. This woman was jealous ; she
plagued me continually, and insulted her sister, so
that I was forced to drive her away. After that she
came to my house, and though they said nothing of
it at the time, she was*j§een by two servants of mine
to sprinkle something in the bowl wherein our food
was cooking. Subsequently my wife, this woman's
half-sister, was taken ill with dysentery. I also was
taken ill with dysentery, but I still live to tell this
story before you, O King, and your judges, though
I know not for how long I live. My wife died
yesterday, and I buried her this morning. I accuse
the woman of having murdered her, either by
witchcraft or by means of a medicine which she
sprinkled on the food, or by both. I have spoken."

" Have you anything to say ? " asked the King
of the prisoner. "Are you guilty of the crime
whereof this man who was your husband charges
you, or does he lie ? "

Then the woman answered in a low and broken
voice :

" I am guilty, King. Listen to my story," and
she told it all as she had told it to Hokosa. " I
am guilty," she added, "and may the Great Man
in the sky, of Whom the Messenger has taught us,

THE REPENTANCE OF HOKOSA 181

forgive me. My sister's blood is upon my hands,
and for aught I know the blood of my husband
yonder will also be on my hands. I seek no mercy ;
indeed, it is better that I should die ; but I would
.say this in self-defence, that I did not think to kill
my sister. I believed that I was giving to her a
potion which would cause her husband to hate her
and no more."

Here she looked round and her eyes met those
of Hokosa.

" Who told you that this was so ? " asked one of
the judges.

" A witch-doctor," she answered, " from whom I
bought the medicine in the old days, long ago, when
Umsuka was king."

Hokosa gasped. Why should this woman have
spared him ?

No further question was asked of her, and the
judges consulted together. At length the King
spoke.

" Woman," he said, " you are condemned to die.
You will be taken to the Doom-tree, and there be
hanged. Out of those who are assembled to try you,
two, the Messenger and myself, have given their
vote in favour of mercy, but the majority think
otherwise. They say that a law has been passed
against murder by means of witchcraft and secret
medicine, and that should we let you go free, the
people will make a mock of the law. So be it. Go
in peace. To-morrow you must die, and may
forgiveness await you elsewhere."

182 THE WIZARD

" I ask nothing else," said the woman. " It is best
that I should die."

Then they led her away. As she passed Hokosa
she turned and looked him full in the eyes, till he
dropped his head abashed. Next morning she was
executed, and he learned that her last words were :
" Let it come to the ears of him who sold me the
poison, telling me that it was but a harmless drug,
that as I hope to be forgiven, so I forgive him,
believing that my silence may win for him time for
repentance, before he follows on the road I tread."

Now, when Hokosa heard these words he shut
himself up in his house for three days, giving out
that he was sick. Nor would he go near to Owen,
being altogether without hope, and not believing
that baptism or any other rite could avail to purge
such crimes as his. Truly his sin had found him
out, and the burden of it was intolerable. So in-
tolerable did it become, that at length he determined
to be done with it. He could live no more. He
would die, and by his own hand, before he was
called upon to witness the death of the man whom
he had murdered. To this end he made his pre-
parations. For Noma he left no message ; for though-
his heart still hungered after her, he knew well that
she , hated him and would rejoice at his death.

When all was ready he sat down to think a while,
and as he thought, a man entered his hut saying
that the Messenger desired to see him. At first he
was minded not to go, then it occurred to him
that it would be well if he could die with a clean

THE REPENTANCE OF HOKOSA 183

heart. Why should he not tell all to the white man,
and before he could be delivered up to justice take
that poison which he had prepared ? It was im-
possible that he should be forgiven, yet he desired
that his victim should learn how deep was his sorrow
and repentance, before he proved it by preceding
him to death. So he rose and went.

He; found Owen in his house, lying in a rude
chair and propped up by pillows of bark. Now
he was wasted almost to a shadow, and in the
pale pinched face his dark eyes, always large and
spiritual, shone with unnatural lustre, while his
delicate hands were so thin that when he held them
up in blessing the light showed through them..

" Welcome, friend," he said. " Tell me, why have
you deserted me of late ? Have you been ill ? "

" No, Messenger," answered Hokosa, " that is,
not in my body. I have been sick at heart, and
therefore I have not come."

" What, Hokosa, do your doubts still torment
you ? I thought that my prayers had been heard,
and that power had been given me to set them at
rest for ever. Man, let me hear the trouble, and
swiftly, for cannot you who are a doctor see that I
shall not be here for long to talk with you ? My days
are numbered, Hokosa, and my work is almost done."

" I know it," answered Hokosa. " And, Messenger,
my days are also numbered."

" How is this ? " asked Owen, " seeing that you
are well and strong. Does an enemy put you in
danger of your life ? "

184 THE WIZARD

" Yes, Messenger, and I myself am that enemy ;
for to-day I, who am no longer fit to live, must die
by my own hand. Nay, listen and you will say
that I do well, for before I go I would tell you all.
Messenger, you are doomed, are you not ? Well,
it was I who doomed you. That fruit which you
ate a while ago was poisoned, and by my hand,
for I am a master of such arts. From the begin-
ning I hated you, as well I might, for had you
not worsted me and torn power from my grasp,
and placed the people and the King under the
rule of another God ? Therefore, when all else
failed, I determined to murder you, and I did the
deed by means of that woman who not long ago was
hung for the killing of her sister, though in truth she
was .innocent " — and he told him what had passed
between himself and the woman, and told him also
of the plot which he had hatched to kill Nodwengo
and the Christians, and to set Hafela on the throne,
. " She was innocent," he went on, " but I am
guilty. How guilty you and I know alone. Do
you remember that day when you ate the fruit,
how after it I accompanied you to the church
yonder and listened to your preaching ? ' Your
sin shall find you out/ you said, and of a surety
mine has found me out ; for, Messenger, it came
about that in listening to you then and afterwards,
I grew to love you and to believe the words you
taught, and therefore am I of all men the most
miserable, and therefore must I perish miserably by
the death of a dog. Now curse me, and let me go."

CHAPTER XVII

THE LOOSING OF NOMA

WHEN Owen heard that it was Hokosa who had
poisoned him, he groaned and hid his face in his
hands, and thus he remained till the evil tale was
finished. Now he lifted his head and spoke, but
not to Hokosa.

"O God," he said, "I thank Thee that at the
cost of my poor life Thou hast been pleased to
lead this sinner towards the Gate of Righteousness,
and to save alive those whom Thou hast sent me
to gather to Thy Fold."

Then he looked at Hokosa, and said :

" Unhappy man, is not your cup full enough
of crime, and have you not sufficiently tempted
the mercy of Heaven, that you would add to all
your evil deeds that of self-murder ? "

" It is better to die to-day by my own hand,"
answered Hokosa, " than to-morrow among the
mockery of the people to fall a victim to your
vengeance, Messenger."

" Vengeance ! Did I speak to you of vengeance ?
Who am I that I should take vengeance upon one
who has repented ? Hokosa, freely do I forgive

185

186 THE WIZARD

you all, even as in some few days I hope to be
forgiven. Freely and fully from my heart do I
forgive you, nor shall my lips tell one word of the
sin that you have worked against me."

Now, when Hokosa heard those words, for a
moment he stared stupefied ; then he fell upon his
knees before Owen, and bowing his head till it
touched the teacher's feet, he burst into bitter
weeping.

" Rise, and hearken," said Owen, gently. " Weep
not because I have shown kindness to you, for
that is my duty and no more, but for your sins in
your heart weep now and ever. Yet for your
comfort I tell you that if you do this, of a surety
they shall be forgiven to you. Hokosa, you have
indeed lost that which you loved, and henceforth
you must follow after that which you did not desire.
In the very grave of error you have found truth,
and from the depths of sin you shall pluck righteous-
ness. Ay, that cross which you deemed accursed
shall lift you up on high, for by it you shall be saved."

Hokosa heard and shivered.

" Who set those words between your lips,
Messenger ? " he whispered.

" Who set them, Hokosa ? Nay, I know not—
or rather, I know well. He set them Who teaches
us to speak all things that are good."

" It must be so, indeed," replied Hokosa. " Yet
I have heard them before ; I have heard them
from the lips of the dead, and with them went this
command : that when they fell upon my ears again

THE LOOSING OF NOMA 187

I should take them for a sign, and let my heart be
turned."

" Tell me that tale," said Owen.

So he told him, and this time it was the white
man who trembled.

" Horrible has been your witchcraft, O Son of
Darkness ! " said Owen when he had finished ;
" yet it would seem that it was permitted to you
to find truth in the pit of sorcery. Obey, obey,
and let your heart be turned. The dead told you
that you should be set high above the nation and
its king, and that saying I cannot read, though it
may be fulfilled in some fashion which to-day you
do not think of. At the least, the other saying is
true, that in the end comes judgment, and that
there shall the sin and the atonement strive
together ; therefore for judgment prepare your-
self. And now depart, for I must talk with
the King as to this matter of the onslaught of
Hafela."

" Then that will be the signal for my death, for
what king can forgive one who has plotted such
treachery against him ? " said Hokosa.

" Fear not," answered Owen, " I will soften his
heart. Go you into the church and pray, for there
you shall be less tempted ; but before you go,
swear to me that you will work no evil on
yourself."

" I swear it, Messenger, since now I desire to
live, if only for a while, seeing that death shuts
every door."

188 THE WIZARD

Then he went to the church, and waited there.
An hour later he was summoned, and found the
King seated with Owen.

" Man," said Nodwengo, " I am told by the
Messenger here that you have knowledge of a plot
that my brother the Prince Hafela has made to
fall treacherously upon me and put me and my
people to the spear. How came you to be ac-
quainted with that plot, and what part you have
played in it, I will not now enquire, for so much
have I promised to the Messenger. Yet I warn
you it will be well that you should tell me all you
know, and that should you lie to me or attempt
to deceive me, then you shall surely die."

" King, hear all the truth," answered Hokosa, in
a voice of desperate calm. " I have knowledge
of the plot, for it was I who wove it ; but whether
or no Hafela will carry it out altogether I cannot
say, for as yet no word has reached me from him.

King, this is the plan that I made ' and he

told him everything.

" It is fortunate for you, Hokosa," said Nodwengo,
grimly, when he had finished, " that I gave my word
to the Messenger that no harm should come to you,
seeing that you have repented and confessed. This
is certain, that Hafela has listened to your evil
counsels, for I gave my consent to his flight from this
land with all his people, and already his women and
children have crossed the mountain path in thousands.
Well, this I swear, that their feet shall tread it no
more, for where they are thither he shall go to join

THE LOOSING OF NOMA 189

them, should he chance to live to do so. Hokosa,
begone, and know that day and night you will be

- watched. Should you so much as dare to approach
f one of the gates of the Great Place, that moment

you shall die."

" Have no fear, O King," said Hokosa, humbly,
" for I have emptied all my heart before you. The
past is the past, and I cannot recall it. For the
future, while it pleases you to spare me, I am the
most loyal of your servants."

" Can a man empty a spring with a pitcher ? "
asked the King, contemptuously. " By to-morrow
this heart of yours may be full again with the blackest
treachery, O master of sin and lies. Many months
ago I spared you at the prayer of the Messenger ;
xand now at his prayer I spare you again, yet in so
doing I think that I am foolish."

" Nay, I will answer for him," broke in Owen.
" Let him stay here with me, and set your guard
without my gates."

" How do I know that he will not murder you,
friend ? " asked the King. " This man is a snake
whom few can nurse with safety."

"He will not murder me," said Owen, smiling,
" because his heart is turned from evil to good ;

* also, there is little need to murder a dying
man."

" Nay, speak not ' so," said the King, hastily ;
" and as for this man, be it as you will. Come, I
must take counsel with my captains, for our danger
is near and great."

190 THE WIZARD

So it came about that Hokosa stayed in the house
of Owen.

On the morrow the Great Place was full of the ^
bustle of preparation, and by dawn of the following
day an impi of some seventeen thousand spears
had started to ambush Hafela and his force in a
certain wooded defile through which he must travel
on his way to the mountain pass where were gathered
his women and children. The army was not large,
at least in the eyes of the People of Fire, who, before
the death of Umsuka and the break up of the nation,
counted their warriors by tens of thousands. But
after those events the most of the regiments had
deserted to Hafela, leaving to Nodwengo not more
than two-and-twenty thousand spears upon which
he could rely. Of these he kept less than a third
to defend the Great Place against possible attacks,
and all the rest he sent to fall upon Hafela far away,
hoping there to make an end ofjiim once and for all.
This counsel the King took against the better
judgment of many of his captains, and as the issue
proved, it was mistaken.

When Owen told Hokosa of it, that old general
shrugged his shoulders.

"The King would have done better to keep his
regiments at home," he said, " and fight it out
with Hafela here, where he is well prepared. Yonder
the country is very wide and broken, and it may well
chance that the impi will miss that of Hafela, and
then how can the King defend this place with a
handful, should the Prince burst upon him at the

THE LOOSING OF NOMA 191

head of forty thousand men ? But who am I that I
should give counsel for which none seek ? "

" As God wills, so shall it befall," answered Owen,
wearily ; *' but oh ! the thought of all this bloodshed
breaks my heart, and I trust that its beatings may
be stilled before my eyes behold it."

On the evening of that day Hokosa was bap-
tised. The ceremony took place, not in the church,
for Owen was too weak to go there, but in the largest
room of his house, and before some few witnesses
chosen from the congregation. Even as he was
being signed with the sign of the Cross, a strange and
familiar attraction caused the convert to look up,
and behold, before him, watching all with mocking
eyes, stood Noma his wife. At length the rite was
finished, and the little audience melted away, all
save Noma, who stood silent and beautiful as a
statue, the light of mockery still gleaming in her eyes.
Then she spoke, saying :

" I greet you, husband. I have returned from
doing your business afar, and if this foolishness is
finished, and the white man can spare you, I would
talk with you alone."

" I greet you, wife," answered Hokosa. " Say
out your say, for none are present save us three,
and from the Messenger here I have no secrets." •

" What, husband, none ? Do you ever talk to
him of certain fruit that you ripened in a garden
yonder ? "

" From the Messenger I have no secrets," repeated
Hokosa, in a heavy voice,

192 THE WIZARD

"Then his heart must be full of them indeed,
and it is little wonder that he seems sick," replied
Noma, gibing. "Tell me, Hokosa, is it true that
you have become a Christian, or would you but
fool the white man and his following ?'"

" It is true."

At the words her graceful shape was shaken with
a little gust of silent laughter.

" The wizard has turned saint," She said. " Well,
then, what of the wizard's wife ? "

" You were my wife before I became Christian ;
if the Messenger permits it, you can still abide with
me."

" If the Messenger permits it ! So you have
come to this, Hokosa, that you must ask the leave
of another man as to whether or no you should
keep your own wife ! There is no other thing
that I could not have thought of you, but this I
would never have believed had I not heard it from
your lips. Say now, do you still love me, Hokosa ? "

" You know well that I love you, now and always,"
he answered, in a voice that sounded like a groan ;
" as you know that for love of you I have done
many sins from which otherwise I should have turned
aside."

" Grieve not over them, Hokosa ; after all, in
such a count as yours they will make but little
show. Well, if you love me, I hate you, though
through your witchcraft your will still has the
mastery of mine. I demand of you now that you
should loose that bond ,for I do not desire to become

THE LOOSING OF NOMA 193

a Christian ; and surely, O most good and holy
man, having one wife already, it will not please
you henceforth to live in sin with a heathen woman."

Now Hokosa turned to Owen.

" In the old days," he said, " I could have answered
her ; but now I am fallen, or raised up — at the least
I am changed and cannot. O prophet of Heaven,
tell me what I shall do."

" Sever the bond that you have upon her and
let her go," answered Owen. " This love of yours
is unholy and born of witchcraft ; have done with
it, or if you cannot, at the least deny it, for such
a woman, a woman who hates you, can work you
no good. Moreover, ' since she is a second wife,
you being a Christian, are bound to free her should
she desire it."

" She can work me no good, Messenger, that I
know ; but I know also that while she struggles in
the net of my will she can work me no evil. If I
loose the net and the fish swims free, it may be
otherwise."

" Loose it," answered Owen, " and leave the rest
to Providence. Henceforth, Hokosa, do right, and
take no thought for the morrow, for the morrow
is v/ith God, and what He decrees that shall
befall."

" I hear you," said Hokosa, " and I obey." For
a while he rocked himself to and fro, staring at the
ground, then he lifted his head and spoke.

" Woman," he said, " the knot is untied and the
spell is broken. Begone, for I release you and I

,194 THE WIZARD

divorce you. Flesh of my flesh have you been,
and soul of my soul, for in the web of sorceries are
we knit together. Yet be warned and presume
not too far, for remember that whieh I have laid
down I can take up, and that should I choose to
command, you must still obey. Farewell, you are
free."

Noma heard, and with a sigh of ecstasy she sprang
into the air as a slave might do from whom the
fetters have been struck off.

" Ay," she cried, " I am free ! I feel it in my
blood, I who have lain in bondage, and the voice
of freedom speaks in my heart and the breath of
freedom blows in my nostrils. % I am free from you,

0 dark and accursed man ; but herein lies my
triumph and revenge — you are not free from me.
In obedience to that white fool whom you have mur-
dered, you have loosed me ; but you I will not loose
and could not if I would. Listen now, Hokosa :
you love me, do you not ?— next to this new creed
of yours, I am most of all to you. Well, since you
have divorced me, I will tell you, I go straight to
another man. Now, look your last on me ; for
you love me, do you not ? " and she slipped the
mantle from her shoulders and except for her girdle
stood before him naked, and smiled.

" Well," she went on, resuming her robe, " the
last words of those we love are always dear to
us ; therefore, Hokosa, you who were my husband,

1 leave mine with you. You are a coward and a
traitor, and your doom shall be that of a coward

THE LOOSING OF NOMA 195

and a traitor. For my sake you betrayed Umsuka,
your king and benefactor ; for your own sake you
betrayed Nodwengo, who spared you ; and now,
for the sake of your miserable soul, you have betrayed
Hafela to Nodwengo. Nay, I know the tale, do not
answer me ; but the end of it — ah ! that is yet to
learn. Lie there, snake, and lick the hand that you
have bitten ; but I, the bird whom you have loosed,
I fly afar — taking your heart with me ! " and suddenly
she turned and was gone.

Presently Hokosa spoke in a thick voice.

" Messenger," he said, " this cross that you have
given me to bear is heavy indeed."

" Yes, Hokosa," answered Owen, " for your sins
are nailed to it."

CHAPTER XVIII

THE PASSING OF OWEN

ONCE she was outside of Owen's house, Noma did not
tarry. First she returned to Hokosa/s kraal, where
she had already learnt from his head wife, Zinti, and
others the news of his betrayal of the plot of Hafela,
of his conversion to the faith of the Christians, and
of the march of the impi to ambush the Prince.
Here she took a little spear, and rolling up in a skin
blanket as much dried meat as she could carry, she
slipped unnoticed from the kraal. Her object was to
escape from the Great Place, but this she did not try
to do by any of the gates, knowing them to be
guarded. Some months ago, before she started on
her embassy, she had noted a weak spot in the fence,
where dogs had torn a hole through which they
passed out to hunt at night. To this spot she made
her way under -cover of the darkness — for though
she still greatly feared to be alone at night, her
pressing need conquered her fears — and found that
the hole was yet there, for a tall weed growing in
its mouth had caused it to be overlooked by those
whose duty it was to mend the fence. With, her
assegai she widened it a little, then drew her lithe

196

THE PASSING OF OWEN 197

shape through it, and lying hidden till the guard
had passed, climbed the two stone walls beyond.
Once she was free of the town, she set her course
by the stars and started forward at a steady run.

" If my strength holds I shall yet be in time
to warn him," she muttered to herself. " Ah !
friend Hokosa, this new madne'ss of yours has
blunted your wits that once were sharp enough
You have set me free, and now you shall learn
how I 'can use my freedom. Not for nothing have I
been your pupil, Hokosa the fox."

Before the dawn broke she was thirty miles from
the Great Place, and before the next dawn she was
a hundred. At sunset on that second day she stood
among mountains. To her right stretched a great
defile, a rugged place of rocks and bush, wherein she
knew that the regiments of the King were hid in
ambush. Perchance she was too late, perchance the
impi of Hafela had already passed to its doom in
yonder gorge. Swiftly she ran forward on to the
trail which led to the gorge, to find that it had been
trodden by many feet and recently. Moving to and
fro she searched the spoor with her eyes, then rose
with a sigh of joy. It was old and marked the
passage of the great company of women and children
and their thousands of cattle which, in execution of
the plot, had travelled this path some days before.
Either the impi had not yet arrived, or it had gone
by some other road. Weary as she was, Noma
followed the old spoor backwards. A mile or more
away it crossed the crest of a hog-backed mountain,

198 THE WIZARD

from whose summit she searched the plain beyond,
and not in vain, for there far beneath her twinkled
the w^tch-fires of the army of Hafela.

Two hours later a woman, footsore and utterly
exhausted, staggered into the camp, and waving
aside the spears that were lifted to stab her, demanded
to be led to the Prince. Presently she was there.

" Who is this woman ? " asked the great warrior ;
for, haggard as she was with travel, exhaustion,
and the terror of her haunted loneliness, he did not
know her in the uncertain firelight.

" Hafela," she said, " I am Noma who was the
wife of Hokosa, and for whole nights and days
I0 have journeyed as no woman ever journeyed
before, to tell you of the treachery of Hokosa and
to save you from your doom."

" What treachery and what doom ? " asked the
Prince.

" Before I answer you that question, Hafela, you
must pay me the price of my news."

" Let me hear the price, Noma."

" It is this, Prince : First, the head of Hokosa,
whe> has divorced me, when you have caught him."

" That I promise readily. What more ? "

" Secondly, the place of your chief wife to-day ;
and a week hente, when I shall have made you
king, the name and state ef Queen of the People
of Fire with all that hangs to it."

" You are ambitious, woman, amd know well
how to drive a bargain. Well, if you can ask,
I can give, for I have ever loved you, and your

THE PASSING OF OWEN 199

mind is as great as your body is beautiful. If
through your help I should become King of the
People of Fire, you shaJl be their Queen, T swear
it by the spirits of my fathers and by my own head.
And now — your tidings."

"These are they, Hafela. Hokosa has turned
Christian and betrayed the plot to Nodwengo ;
and the great gorge yonder but two hours' march
away is ambushed. To-morrow you and all your
people would have been cut off there had I not
run so fast and far to warn you, after which the
impis of Nodwengo were commanded to follow your
women and cattle over the mountain pass and capture
them."

" This is news indeed," said the Prince. " Say
now, how many regiments are hidden in the gorge ? "

"Eight."

" Well, I have fourteen ; so, being "warned, there
is little to fear. I will catch these rats in their
own hole."

" I have a better plan," said Noma ; " it is this :
leave six regiments posted upon the brow of yonder
hill and let them stay there, for then when the
generals of Nodwengo see that they do not enter
the gorge, they will believe that the ambush is
discovered, and, after waiting for one day or perhaps
two, will move out to give battle, thinking that
before them is all your strength. But command your
regiments to run and not to fight, drawing the army
of Nodwengo after them. Meanwhile, yes, this very
night, you yourself with all the men that are left to

200 THE WIZARD

you must march upon the Great Place, which, though
it be strong, can be stormed, for it is defended by
less than five thousand soldiers. There, having
taken it, you shall slay Nodwengo, proclaiming
yourself king, and afterwards, by the help of the impi
that you leave here which will march onward to your
succour, you can deal with yonder army."

" A great scheme truly," said Hafela in admiration ;
" but how do I know whether all this tale is true,
or whether you do but set a snare for me ? "

" Bid scouts go out and creep into yonder gully,"
answered Noma, " and you will see wrhether or no
I have spoken falsely. " For the rest, I am in your
hands, and if I lie you can take my life in payment."

" If I march upon the Great Place, it must be
at midnight when none see me go," said Hafela,
" and what will you do then, Noma, who are too
weary to travel again so soon ? "

" I will be borne in a litter till my strength comes
back to me," she answered. " And now give me to
eat and let me rest while I may."

Five hours later, Hafela with the most of his
army, a force of something over twenty thousand
men, was journeying swiftly but by a circuitous
route towards the Great Place of the King. On
the crest of the hill, facing the gorge as Noma had
suggested, he, left six regiments with instructions
to fly before Nodwengo's generals, and when they
had led them far enough, to follow him as swiftly
as they were able. These orders, or rather the

THE PASSING OF OWEN 201

first part of them, they carried out, for as it chanced
after two days' flight, the King's soldiers got behind
them by a night march, and falling on them at dawn,
killed half of them and dispersed the rest. Then it
was that Nodwengo's generals learned for the first
time that they were following one wing of Hafela's
army only, while the main body was striking at the
heart of the kingdom, and turned their faces home-
wards in fear and haste.

On the morning after the flight of Noma, Owen
passed into the last stage of his sickness, and it
became evident, both to himself and to those who
watched him, that at the most he could not live
for more than a few Delays. For his part, he accepted
his doom joyfully, spending the time which was left
to him in writing letters that were to be forwarded
to England whenever an opportunity should arise,
and in setting down on paper a statement of the
•principal events of his strange mission, and other
information for the guidance of his white successors,
who by now should be drawing near to the land of the
Amasuka. In the intervals of these last labours,
from time to time he summoned the King and the
wisest and trustiest of those whom he had baptised
to his bedside, teaching them what they should do
when he was gone, and exhorting them to cling to
the Faith.

On the afternoon of the fourth day from that of
the baptism of Hokosa he fell into a quiet sleep,
from which he did not wake till sundown.

202 THE WIZARD

" Am I still here ? " he asked, wondering, of
John and Hokosa who watched at his bedside.
" From my dreams I thought that it was other-
wise. John, send a messenger to the King and
ask of him to assemble the people, all who care
to come, in the open place before my house ; for
I am about to die, and first I would speak with
them."

John went weeping upon bis errand, leaving Owen
and Hokosa alone.

" Tell me now what shall I do ? " said Hokosa
in a voice of despair, " seeing that it is I and no
other who have brought this death upon you."

" Fret not, my brother," answered Owen, " for
this and other things you did in the days of your
blindness, and it was permitted that you should
do them to an end. Kneel down now, that I may
absolve you from your sins before I pass away ;
for I tell you, Hokosa, I believe that ere many
days are over you must walk on the path I travel'
to-night."

" Is it so ? " Hokosa answered. " Well, I am
glad, for I have no longer any lust of life."

Then he knelt down and received the absolution.

Now John returned and Nodwengo with him,
who told him that the people were gathering in
hundreds according to his wish. *

" Then clothe me in my robes and let us go forth,"
he said, " for I would speak my last words in the ears
of men."

So they put the surplice and hood upon his wasted

THE PASSING OF OWEN 203

form and went out, John preceding him holding on
high the ivory crucifix, while the King and Hokosa
supported him, one on either side.

Without his gate stood a low wrooden platform,
whence at times Owen had been accustomed to
address any congregation larger than the church
would contain. On this platform he took his seat.
The moon was bright above him, and by it he
could see that already his audience numbered some
thousands of men, women, and children. The news
had spread that the wonderful white man, Messenger,
wished to take his farewell of the nation, though even
now many did not understand that he was dying, but
imagined that he was about to leave the country, or,
for aught they knew, to vanish from their sight into
Heaven. For a moment Owen looked at the sea of
dusky faces, then, in the midst of an intense stillness,
he spoke in a voice low indeed but clear and steady :

" My children," he said, " hear my last words
to you. Three years ago, in a far, far land, and
upon such a night as this, a Voice spoke to me
from above commanding me to seek you out, to
turn you from your idolatry and to lighten your
darkness. I listened to the Voice, and hither I
journeyed across sea and land, though how this
thing might be done I could not guess. But to
Him Who sent me all things are possible, and
while I yet lingered upon the threshold of your
country, in a dream were revealed to me events
that were to come. So I appeared before you
boldly, and knowing that lie had been poisoned

204 THE WIZARD

and that I could cure him, I drew back your king
from the mouth of death, and you said to your-
selves : ' Behold a wizard indeed ! let us hear him/
Then I gave battle to your sorcerers yonder upon
the plain, and from the foot of the Cross I teach,
the lightnings were rolled back upon them and
they were not. Look now, their chief stands at
my side, among my disciples one of*the foremost
and most faithful. Afterwards troubles arose : your
king died a Christian, and many of the people fell
away ; but still a remnant remained, and he wrho
became King was converted to the truth. Now I
have sown the seed, and the corn is ripe before my
eyes, but it is not permitted that I should reap
the harvest. My work is ended, my task is done,
and I, the Messenger, return to make report to
Him Who sent the message.

" Hear me yet a little while, for soon shall my voice
be silent. ' I come not to bring peace, but a sword/
— so said the Master Whom I preach, and so say I,
the most unworthy of His servants. Salvation
cannot be bought at a little price, it must be paid
for with the blood and griefs of men, and in blood
and griefs must you pay, O my children. Even
now the heathen is it your gates, and many of
you shall perish on his spears, but I tell you that
he shah1 not conquer. Be faithful, cling to the
Cross, and do not dare to doubt your Lord, for He
will protect you and your children after you, and He
will be your Captain and you shall be His people.
Cleave t© your King, for he is good ; and in the day

THE PASSING OF OWEN 205

of trial listen to the counsel of this Hokosa, who
once was the first of evil doers, for with him goes
my spirit, and he is my son in the spirit. My
children, fare you well ! Forget me not, for I have
loved you ; or if you will, forget me, but remember
my teaching and hearken to those who shall tread
upon the path I made. The peace of God be with
you, the blessing of God be upon you, and the sal-
vation of God await you, as it awaits me to-night !
Friends, lead me hence to die."

They turned to him, but before their hands
touched him Thomas Owen fell forward upon the
breast of Hokosa and lay there a while. Then
suddenly, and for the last time, he lifted himself
and cried aloud :

" I have fought a good fight ! I have finished
my course ! I have kept the Faith ! Henceforth
there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness . . .
and not to me only, but to all those who love His
appearing."

Then his head fell back, his dark -eyes closed,
and the Messenger was dead.

Hokosa, the man who had murdered him, having
lifted him up to show him to the people, amidst
a sound of mighty weeping, took the body in his
arms and bore it thence to make it ready for burial.

CHAPTER XIX

THE FALL OF THE GREAT PLACE

ON the morrow at sundown all that remained of
Thomas Owen was laid to rest before the altar
of the little church, Nodwengo the King and Hokbsa
lowering him into the grave, while John, his first
disciple, read over him the burial service of the
Christians, which it had been one of the dead man's
last labours to translate into the language of the
Amasuka.

Before the ceremony was finished a soldier,
carrying a spear in his hand, pushed his' way through
the dense and weeping crowd, and having saluted,
whispered something into the ear of the King.
Nodwengo started and, with a last look of farewell
at the face of his friend, left the chapel, accompanied
by some of his generals who were present, muttering
to Hokosa that he was to follow when all was done.
Accordingly, some few minutes later, he went and
was admitted into the Council Hut, where captains
and messengers were to be seen arriving and departing
continuously.

" Hokosa," said the King, " you have dealt
treacherously with me in the past, but I believe

206

THE FALL OF THE GREAT PLACE 207

now that your heart is true, at the leasi I. follow
the commands of our dead master and trust you.
Listen : the outposts have sighted an impi of
many regiments advancing towards the Great
Place, though whether or no it be my own impi
returning victorious from the war with my brother,
I cannot say. There is this against it, however,
that a messenger has but ju$t arrived reporting
that the generals have perceived the host of Hafela
encamped upon a ridge over against the gorge where
they awaited him. If that be so, they can scarcely
have given him battle, for the messenger is swift
of foot and has travelled night and day. Yet how
can this be the impi of Hafela, who, say the generals,
is encamped upon the ridge ? "

" He may have left the ridge, King, having been
warned of the ambush."

" It cannot be, for when the runner started his
fires were there and his soldiers were gathered round
them."

" Then perhaps his captains sit upon the ridge
with some portion of his strength to deceive those
who await him in the gorge ; while, knowing that
here men are few, he himself swoops down on you
with the main body of his impi."

"At least we shall learn presently," answered
the King ; " but if it be as I fear and we are out-
witted, what is there that we can do against so
many ? "

Now one of the captains advised that they should
stay where they were and hold the place.

208 THE WIZARD

" It is too large," answered the King, " they \vill
burst the fences ?nd break our line."

Another suggested that they should fly and,
avoiding the regiments of Hafela in the darkness of
the night, should travel swiftlv in search of the
main army that had been sent to lie in ambush.

" What," said Nodwengo, " leaving the aged
and the women and children to perish, for how can
we take such a multitude ? No, I will have none
of this plan."

Then Hokosa spoke. " King," he said, " listen to
my counsel : command now that all the women
and the old men, taking with them such cattle and
food as are in the town, depart at once into the
Valley of Death and collect in the open space that
lies beyond the Tree of Doom near the spring of
water that is there. The valley is narrow and the
cliffs are steep, and it may chance that by the
help of Heaven we shall be able to hold it till the
army returns to relieve us, to seek which messengers
must be sent at once with these tidings."

" The plan is good," said the King, " though
none had thought of it ; but so we shall lose the
town."

" Towns can be rebuilt," answered Hokosa, " but
who can restore the lives of men ? "

As the words left his lips, a runner burst into
the Council, crying, " King, the impi is that of
Hafela, and the Prince leads it in person. Already
they stand upon the Plain of Fire."

Then Nodwengo arose and issued his orders,

THE FALL OF THE GREAT PLACE 209

commanding that all the ineffective population of
the town, together with such food and cattle as
could be gathered, should retreat at once into the
Valley of Death. By this time the four or five
thousand soldiers who were left in the Great Place
had been paraded on the open ground in front of
the King's house, where they stood, still and silent,
in the moonlight. Nodwengo and the captains
went out to them, and as they saw him come they
lifted their spears like one man, giving him the
royal salute of " King ! " He held up his hand and
addressed them.

" Soldiers," he said, " we have been outwitted.
My impi is afar, and that of Hafela is at our gates.
Yonder in the valley, though we be few, we can
defend ourselves till succour reaches us, which
already messengers have gone out to seek. But
first we must give time for the women and children,
the sick and the aged, to withdraw with food and
cattle ; and this we can do in one way only, by
keeping Hafela at bay till they have passed the
archway, all of them. Now, soldiers, for the sake
of your own lives, of your honour and of those you
love, swear to me, in the holy Name which we have
been taught to worship, that you will fight out this
great fight without fear or faltering."

" We swear it in the holy Name," roared the
regiments.

" Then victory is already ours," answered the
King. " Follow me, Children of Fire ! " and
shaking his great spear", he led the way towards

210 THE WIZARD

1

that portion of the outer fence upon which Haf ela
was advancing. By now the town behind them
was a scene of almost indescribable tumult and
confusion, for the companies detailed to the task
were clearing the numberless huts of their occupants,
and collecting women, children and oxen in thousands,
preparatory to driving them into the defile. Panic
had seized many of these poor creatures, who, in
imagination, already saw themselves impaled upon
the cruel spears of Hafela's troops, and indeed in
not a few instances believed those who were urging
them forward to be the enemy. Women shrieked
and wrung their hands, children wailed piteously,
oxen lowed, and the infirm and aged vented their
grief in groans and cries to Heaven for mercy. In
truth, so difficult was the task of marshalling this
motley array at night, numbering as it did ten or
twelve thousand souls, that a full hour went by before
the mob began to move, slowly and uncertainly,
towards the place of refuge, whereof the opening
was so narrow that but few of them could pass it
at a time.

Meanwhile Hafela was developing the attack.
Forming his great army into the shape of a wedge
he raised his battle-cry and rushed down upon the
first line of fortifications, which he stormed without
difficulty, for they were defended by a few skir-
mishers only. Next he attacked the second line,
and carried it after heavy fighting, then hurled
himself upon the main fence of the kraal.- Here
it was that the fray began in earnest, for here

THE FALL OF THE GREAT PLACE 211

Nodwengo was waiting for him. Thrice the thou-
sands rolled on in face of a storm of spears, and
thrice they fell back from the wide fence of thorns
and the wall of stone behind it. By now the battle
had raged for about an hour and a half, and it was
reported to the King that the firsf of the women and
children had passed the archway into the valley,
and that all of them were clear of the eastern gate
of the town.

" Then it is time that we follow them," said the
King, " for if we wait here until the warriors of
Hafela are among us, our retreat will become a
rout and soon there will be none left to follow.
Let one company," and he named it, " hold the
fence for a while to give us time to withdraw, taking
the wounded with us."

" We he^r you, King," said one of the company,
" but our captain is killed."

" Who among you will take over the command
of these''men and hold the breach ? " asked Nodwengo
of the group of officers about him.

" I, King," answered old Hokosa, lifting his spear,
" for I care not whether I live or die."

" Go to, Boaster ! " cried another. " Who among
us cares whether he lives or dies when the King
commands ? "

" That we shall know to-morrow," said Hokosa,
quietly, and the soldiers laughed at the retort.

" So be it," said the King, and while silently and
swiftly he led off the regiments, keeping in the
shadow of the huts, Hokosa and his hundred men

212 THE WIZARD

posted themselves behind the weakened fence and
wall. Now, for the fourth time the attacking
regiment came forward grimly, on this occasion
led by the Prince himself. As they drew near,
Hokosa leapt upon the wall, and standing there in
the bright moonlight where all could see him, he
called to them to halt. Instinctively they obeyed
him.

" Is it Hafela whom I see yonder ? " he asked.

" Ay ! it is I," answered the Prince. " What
would you with me, wizard and traitor ? "

" This only, Hafela : I would ask you what you
seek here ? "

" That which you promised me, Hokosa, the
crown of my father and certain* other things."

" Then get you back, Hafela,^ for you shall never
win them. Have I prophesied falsely to you at any
time ? Not so — neither do- 1 prophesy falsely now.
Get you back whence you came, and your wolves
with you, else shall you bide here for ever."

" Do you dare to call down evil on me, Wizard ? "
shouted the Prince furiously. " Your wife is mine,
and now I take your life also," and with all his
strength he hurled at him the great spear he held.

It hissed past Hokosa's head, touching his ear,
but he never flinched from the steel.

" A poor cast, Prince," he said, laughing ; " but
so it must have- been, for I am guarded by that
which you cannot1 see. My wife you have, and
she shall be your ruin ; my life you may take, but
ere it leaves me, Hafela, I shall see you dead and

THE FALL OF THE GREAT PLACE 213

y«ur army scattered. The Messenger is passed
away, bat his power has fallen upon me, and I
speak the truth to you, O Prince and warriors who
are already dead."

Now a shriek of dismay and fury rose from the
hundreds who heard this prophecy of ill, for of
Hokosa and his magic they were terribly afraid.

" Kill him ! Kill the wizard ! " they shouted,
and a rain of spears rushed towards him on the wall.

They rushed towards him, they passed above,
below, around ; but, of them all, not one touched
him.

" Did I not tell you that I was guarded by that
which you cannot see ? " he asked, contemptuously,
and then slowly descended from the wall amidst
a great silence.

" When men are scarce the tongue must play a
part," he explained to his companions, who stared
at him wondering. " By now the King and those
with him should have reached the eastern gate ;
whereas, had we fought at once, Hafela would be
hard upon his heels, for we are few and who can
hold a buffalo with a rope of grass ? Yet I think
that I spoke truth when I told him that the garment
of the Messenger has fallen upon my shoulders, and
that death awaits him and his companies, as it
awaits me also and many of us. Now, friends, be
ready, for the bull charges and soon we must feel his
horns. This at least is left to you, to die gloriously."

While he was still speaking the first files of the
regiment rushed upon the fence, tearing aside the

214 THE WIZARD

thorns with their hands till a passage was made
through them. Then they sprang upon the wall,
there to be met by the spears of Hokosa and his
men thrusting upward from beneath its shelter.
Time after time they sprang, and time after time
they fell back dead or wounded, till at last, dashing
forward in one dense column, they poured over the
stones as the rising tide pours over the rocks on the
sea-shore, driving the defenders before them by the
sheer weight of. numbers.

" The game is played ! " cried Hokosa. " Fly now
to the eastern gate, for here we ^can do nothing
more/'

So they fled, those who survived of them, and after
them came the thousands of the foe, sacking and firing
the deserted town as they advanced.

Hokosa and his men, or rather the half of them,
reached the gate and passed it in safety, barring
it after them, and thereby delaying the attackers
till they could burst their way through it. Now
hundreds of huts were afire, and the flames spread
swiftly, lighting up the country far and wide. In
the glare of them, Hokosa could see that already
a full two-thirds of the crowd of fugitives had
passed the narrow arch ; while Nodwengo and the
soldiers were drawn up in companies upon the
steep and rocky slope that led to it, protecting their
retreat.

He advanced to the King and reported himself.

'' So you have lived through it," said Nodwengo.

" I shall die when my hour comes, and not before,"

THE FALL OF THE GREAT PLACE 215

Hokosa answered. " We did well yonder, and yet the
most of us are alive t© tell the tale, for I knew when
to go. Be ready, King, for the foe press us close,
and that mob behind us crawls onward like a snail."

As he spoke the pursuers broke through the
fence and gate of the burning town, and once more
the fight began. They had the advantage of num-
bers ; but Nodwengo and his troops stood in a
wide road upon higher ground protected on either
side by walls, and were, moreover, rested, not
breathless and weary with travel like the men
of Hafela. Slowly, fighting every inch of the
way, Nodwengo was pushed back, and slowly the
long ant-like line of women and sick and cattle
crept through the opening in the rock, till at length
all of them were gone.

" It is time," said Nodwengo, glancing behind him,
" for our arms grow weary."

Then he gave orders, and company by company
the defending force followed on the path of the
fugitives, till at length, amidst a roar of rage and
disappointment, the last of them vanished through
the arch, Hokosa among them, and the place was
blocked with stones, above which shone a hedge
of spears.

CHAPTER XX

NOMA SETS A SNARE

THUS ended the first night's battle, since for this
time the enemy had had enough. Nodwengo and
his men had also had enough, for out of the five
thousand of them some eleven hundred were killed
or wounded. Yet they might not rest, for all that
night, assisted by the women, they laboured, building
stone walls across the narrowest parts of the valley.
Also the cattle, women and children were moved
along the gorge, which in shape may be compared
to a small bottle with two necks, one at either end,
and encamped in the opening of the second neck,
where was the spring of water. This spot was
chosen both because here alone water could be
obtained, \\ithout which they could not hold out
more than a single day, and because the koppie
whereon grew the strange-looking euphorbia known
as the Tree of Doom afforded a natural rampart
against attack.

Shortly after dawn, while the soldiers were resting

and eating of such food as could be procured — for

the most part strips of raw or half-cooked meat cut

from hastily-killed cattle — the onslaught was renewed

' 216

NOMA SETS A SNARE 217

with vigour, Hafela directing his efforts to the forcing
of the natural archway. But/ strive as he would,
this he could not do, for it was choked with stones
and thorns and -guarded by brave men.

" You do but waste your labour, Hafela," said
Noma, who stood by him watching the assault.

" What then is to be done ? " he asked, " for
unless we come at them we cannot kill them. It
was clever of them ,to take refuge in this hole. I
thought surely that they would fight it out yonder,
beneath the fences of the Great Place."

" Ah ! " she answered, " you forgot that they
had Hokosa on their side. Did you then think to
catch him sleeping ? This retreat was Hokosa's
counsel. I learned it from the lips of that wounded
captain before they killed him. Now, it seems that
there are but two paths to follow, and you can choose
between them. The one is to send a regiment a
day and a half's journey across the cliff top to guard
the farther mouth of the valley and to wait till these
jackals starve in their hole, for certainly they can
never come out."

" It has started six hours since," said Hafela,
" and though the precipices are steep, having the
moon to travel by, it should reach "the river-mouth
of the valley before dawn to-morrow, cutting
Nodwengo off from the plains, if indeed he should
dare to venture out upon them, which, with so
small a force he will not do. Yet this firsfc plan
of yours must fail, Noma, seeing that before they
starve within, the generals of Nodwengo will be

218 THE WIZARD

back upon us from the mountains, catching us
between the hammer and the anvil, and I know
not how that fight would go."

" Yet, soon or late, it must be fought."

" Nay," he answered, " for my hope is that should
the impi return to find Nodwengo dead, they will
surrender and acknowledge me as king, who am the
first of the blood royal. But what is your second
plan ? "

By way of answer, she pointed to the cliff above
them. On the right-hand side, facing the archway,
was a flat ledge overhanging the valley, at a height
of about a hundred feet.

" If you can come yonder," she said, " it will be
easy to storm this gate, for there lie rocks in plenty,
and men cannot fight when stones are dropping on
their heads."

" But how can we come yonder to that home of
vultures, where never a man has set a foot. Look,
the cliff above is sheer ; no rock-rabbit could stand
upon it."

With her eye Noma measured the distance from
the brink of the precipice to the broad ledge
commanding the valley.

" Sixty paces, not more," she said. " Well, yonder
are oxen in plenty, and out of their hides ropes
can be made, and out of ropes a ladder, down
which men may pass ; ten, or even five, . would
be enough."

" Well thought of, Noma," said Hafela. " Hokosa
told us last night that to him had passed the wisdom

NOMA SETS A SNARE 219

of the Messenger ; but if this be so, I think that to
r you has passed the guile of Hokosa "

" It seems to me that some of it abides with him,"
answered Noma, laughing.

Then the Prince gave orders, and, with many
workers of hides toiling at it, within two hours
the ladder was ready, the staves of it, set twenty
inches apart, being formed of knobkerries, or the
broken shafts of stabbing spears. Now they lowered
it from the top of the precipice so that its end
rested upon the ledge, and down it came several
men, who swung upon its giddy length like spiders
on a web. Reaching this great shelf in safety and
advancing to the edge <3f it, these men started a
boulder, which, although as it chanced it hurt no one,
fell in the midst of a group of the defenders and
bounded away through them.

" Now we must be going," said Hokosa looking
up, " for no man can fight against rocks, and our
spears cannot reach those birds. Had the army
been taught the use of the bow, as I counselled
in past days, we might still have held the archway ;
but they called it a woman's weapon, and would have
none of it."

As he spoke another stone fell, crushing the life
out of a man who stood next to him. Then they
retreated to the first wall, which had been piled
up during the night, where it was not possible to
roll rocks upon them from the cliffs above. This
wall, and others reared at intervals behind it, they
set to work to strengthen as much as they could,

220 THE WIZARD

making the most of the time that was left to them
before the enemy could clear the way and march
on to attack. Presently they were through and
sweeping down upon them with a roar, thinking to
carry the wall at a single rush. But in this they
failed ; indeed, it was only after an hour's hard
fighting and by the expedient of continually attacking
the work with fresh companies that at length they
stormed it.

When Hokosa saw that he could no longer hold
the place, but before the foe was upon him, he drew
off his soldiers to the second wall, a quarter of a mile
or more away, and here the fight began again.
And so it went orr-for hour after hour, as one by one
the fortifications were carried by the weight of num-
bers, for the attackers fought desperately under the
eye of their Prince, caring nothing for the terrible
loss they suffered in men. Twice the force of the
defenders was changed by order of Nodwengo, fresh
men being sent from the companies held in reserve to
take the places of those who had borne the brunt
of the battle. This indeed it was necessary to do,
seeing that it was impossible to carry water to so
many, and in that burning valley men could not
fight for long athirst. Only Hokosa stayed on,
for they brought him drink in a gourd, and wherever
the fray was fiercest there he was always ; nor
although spears were rained upon him by hundreds,
was he touched by one of them.

At length as the night fell the King's men were
driven from their last scherm in the western half

NOMA SETS A SNARE 221

of the valley, across the open space back upon
the koppe where stood the Tree of Doom. Here
they stayed a while, till, overmatched and out-
worn, they were pushed from its rocks across the
narrow stretch of broken ground into the shelter
of the great stone scherm of wall that ran from
side to side of the farther neck of the valley, whereon
thousands of women and such men as could be
spared had been working incessantly during the
past night and day.

It was as he retreated among the last upon this
wall that Hokosa caught sight of Noma for the
first time since they parted in the house of the
Messenger. In the forefront of his troops, directing
the attack, was Hafela the Prince, and at. his side
stood Noma, carrying in her hand a little shield and-
a spear. At this moment also she saw him and called
aloud to him :

" You have fought well, Wizard, but to-morrow
all your magic shall avail you nothing, for it shall
be your last day upon this earth."

" Aye, Noma," he answered, " and yours also."

Then of a sudden a company of the King's men
rushed from the shelter of the wall upon the attackers
driving them back to the koppie and killing several,
so that in the confusion and gathering darkness
Hokosa lost sight of her, though a man at his
side declared that he saw her fall beneath the
thrust of an assegai. And thus ended the second
day.

Now when the watch had been set the King and
9

222 THE WIZARD

his captains took counsel together, for their hearts
were heavy.

" Listen," said Nodwengo, " out of five thousand
soldiers a thousand have been killed and a thousand
lie among us wounded. Hark to the groaning of
them ! Also we have with us women and children
and sick to the number of twelve thousand, and
bet\veen us and those who would butcher them
every one there stands but a single wall. Nor
is this the worst of it : the spring cannot supply
the wants of so great a multitude in this hot place,
and it is feared that presently the water will be done.
What way shall we turn ? If we surrender to Hafela,
perhaps he will spare the lives of the women and
children ; but whatever he may promise, the most
of us he will surely slay. If we fight and are de-
feated, then once his regiments are among us, all will
be slain according to the ancient custom of our
people. I have bethought me that we might retreat
through the valley, but the river beyond is in flood ;
also it is certain that before this multitude could
reach it, the Prince will have sent a force to cut us
off while he himself harasses our rear. Now let him
who has counsel speak."

" King, I have counsel," said Hokosa. " What
were the words that the Messenger spoke^to us
before he died ? Did he not say : ' Even now
the heathen is at your gates, and many of you
shall perish on his spears ; but I tell you that he
shall not conquer ' ? Did he not say : ' Be faithful,
cling to the Cross, and do not dare to doubt your

NOMA SETS A SNARE 223

Lord, for He will protect you, and your children
after you, and He will be your Captain and you
shall be His people ' ? Did he not bid you also to
listen to my counsel ? Then listen to it, for it is
his: your case seems desperate, but have no fear,
and take no thought for to-morrow, for all shall
yet be well. Let us now pray to Him that the
Messenger has revealed to us, and Whom now
he implores on our behalf in that place where he
is to guide us and to save us, for then surely He
will hearken to our prayer."

"So be it," said Nodwengo, and going out he
stood upon a pillar of stone in the moonlight and
offered up his supplication in the hearing of the
multitude.

Meanwhile, those in the camp of Hafela were
also taking counsel. They had fought bravely
indeed, and carried the schances ; bivj; at great
cost, since for every man that Nodwengo had lost,
three of theirs had fallen. Moreover, they were
in evil case with weariness and the want of water,
as each drop they drank must be carried to them
from the G'reat Place in bags made of raw hide,
which caused it to stink, for they had but few gourds
with them.

"Now it is strange," said Hafela, "that these
men should fight so bravely, seeing that thev are
but a handful. -There can be scarce three thousand
of them left, and yet I doubt notxthat before we carrv
se last walls of theirs as many of us or more
will be down. Ay ! and after they are done v

224: THE WIZARD

we must meet their great impi when it returns,
and of what will befall us then I scarcely like to
think."

" Ill-fortune will befall you while Hokosa lives,"
broke in Noma. " Had it not been for him, this
trouble had been done with by now ; but he is a
wizard, and by his wizardries he defeats us and
puts heart into Nodwengo and the warriors. You,
yourself, have seen him this day defying us, not
once but many times, for upon his flesh steel has
no power ; ay ! and this is but the beginning of
evil, for I am sure that he leads you into some
deep trap where you shall perish everlastingly.
Did he not himself declare that the power of that
dead white worker of miracles had fallen upon him,
and who can fight against magic ? "

" Who, indeed ? " said Hafela, humbly ; for like
all savages he was very superstitious, and, more-
over, a sincere believer in Hokosa's supernatural
capacities. " This wizard is too strong for us ; he
is invulnerable, and as I know well he can read
the secret thoughts of men and can suck wisdom
from the dead, while to his eyes the darkness is
no blind."

"Nay, Hafela," answered Noma, "there is one
crack in his shield. Hear me : if we can but catch
him and hold him fast, we shall have no need to
fear him more, and I think I know how to bait the
trap."

" How will you bait it ? " asked Hafela.

"Thus. Midway between the koppie and the

NOMA SETS A SNARE 225

wall behind which lie the men of the King stands
a flat rock, and all about that rock are stretched
the bodies of dead soldiers. Now, this is my plan :
that when next one of those dark storm-clouds
passes over the face of the moon, six of the strongest
of our warriors should creep upon their b(ellies into
the shadow of that rock and there cast themselves
down this way and that, as though they were
also numbered with the slain. This done, you
shall despatch a herald to call in the ears of
the King that you desire to treat with him of peace.
Then he will answer that if this be so you can come
beneath the walls of his camp, and your herald
shall refuse, saying that you fear treachery. But
he shall add that if Nodwengo will bid Hokosa
to advance alone to that flat rock, you will bid me,
Noma, whom none can fear, to do likewise, and
that there we can talk in the sight of both armies,
and returning thence, make report to you and to
Nodwengo. Afterwards, so soon as Hokosa has
set his foot upon the rock, those men who seem to
be dead shall spring upon him and drag him to
our camp, where we can deal with him ; for once
the wizard is taken, the cause of Nodwengo is
lost." ,

"A good pitfall," said the Prince; "but 'will
Hokosa walk into it ?. "

" I think so, Hafela, for three reasons. He is
altogether without fear ; he will desire, if may be,
to make peace on behalf of the King ; and he has
this strange weakness, that he still loves me, and

226 THE WIZARD

will scarcely suffer an occasion of speaking with
me to go past, although he has divorced me."

" So be it," said the Prince ; " the game can be
tried, and if it fails, why we lose nothing, whereas
if it succeeds we gain Hokosa, which is much ; for
with you I think that our arms will never prosper
while that accursed wizard sits yonder weaving
his spells against us, and bringing our men to death
by hundreds and by thousands."

Then he gave his orders, and presently, when a
cloud passed over the face of the moon, six men
crept forward under the lee of the flat rock, and
threw themselves down here and there amongst
the dead.

Soon the cloud passed, and the herald advanced
across the open space blowing a horn, and waving
a branch in his hand to show that he came upon
a mission of peace.

CHAPTER XXI

HOKOSA IS LIFTED UP

" WHAT would you ? " asked Hokosa of the herald
as he halted a short spear-cast from the wall.

" My master, the Prince Haf ela, desires to treat
with your master, Nodwengo. Many men have
fallen on either side, and if this war goes on, though
victory must be his at the last, many more will fall.
Therefore, if any plan can be found, he desires to
spare their lives."

Now Hokosa spoke with the King and answered :

"Then let Hafela come beneath the wall, and
we will talk with him."

"Not so," answered the herald. "Does a buck
walk into an open pit ? Were the Prince to come
here, it might chance that your spears would talk
with him, Let Nodwengo follow me to .the camp
yonder, where we promise him safe conduct."

" Not so," answered Hokosa. " ' Does a buck walk
into an open pit ? ' Set out your message, and we
will consider it."

" Nay, I am but a common man without authority ;
but I am charged to make you another offer, and if
you will not hear it, then there is an end. Let

228 THE WIZARD

Hokosa advance alone to that flat rock you see
yonder, and there he shall be met, also alone, by
one having power to talk with him, namely, by the
lady Noma, who was once his wife. Thus they can
confer together midway between the camps and in
full sight of both of them, nor, no man being near,
can he find cause to be afraid of an unarmed girl.
What say you ? "

Hokosa turned and talked with the King.

" I think it well that you should not go," said
Nodwengo. " The offer seems fair, and the stone
is out of reach of their spears ; still, behind it may
lurk a scheme to kill or capture you, for Hafela is
very cunning."

" It may be so, King," answered Hokosa ; " still,
my heart tells me that it is wisest that I should do
this thing, for our case is desperate, and if I do it
not, that may be the cause of the death of all of
us to-morrow. At the worst, I am but one man,
and it matters little what may chance to me ; nor
shall I come to any harm unless it is the will of
Heaven that it should be so : and be sure of this,
that out of the harm will arise good, for where I
go, there the spirit of the Messenger goes with me.
Remember that he bade you listen to my counsel
while I remain with you, seeing that I do not speak
of my own wisdom. Therefore, let me go, and if
it should chance that I am taken, trouble not about
the matter, for thus it will be fated to some great
end. Above all, though often enough I have been
a traitor in the past, do not dream that I betray

HOKOSA IS LIFTED UP 229

you, keeping in mind that so to do would be to
betray my own soul, which very soon must render
its account on high."

" As you will, Hokosa," answered the King.
" And now teft those rebel dogs that on these
terms only will I make peace with them — that
they withdraw across the mountains by the path
which their women and children have taken, leaving
this land for ever without lifting another spear
against us. If they will do this, notwithstanding
all the wickedness and slaughter that they have
worked, I will send command to my impi to let
them go unharmed. If they will not do this, I
put my trust in the God I worship and will fight this
fray out to the end, knowing that if I and my people
perish, they shall perish also."

Now Nodwengo himself spoke to the herald who
was waiting beyond the wall.

" Go back to him you serve," he said, " and say
that Hokosa will meet her who was his wife upon
the flat stone and talk with her in the sight of
both armies, bearing my word with him. At the
sound of the blowing of a horn shall each of them
advance unarmed and alone from either camp.
Say to. my brother also that it will indeed be ill
for him if he attempts treachery upon Hokosa, for
the man who causes his blood to flow shall surely
die, and after death shall be accursed for ever."

The herald went, and presently a horn was •
blown.

" Now it comes into my mind that we part for

230 THE WIZARD

the last time," said Nodwengo, in a troubled voice,
as he took the hand of Hokosa.

" It may be so, King : in my heart I think that
it is so ; yet I do not altogether grieve thereat, for
the burden of my past sins crushes me, and I am
weary and seek for rest. Yet we do not part for
the last time, because whatever chances, in the
end I shall make my report to you yonder" — and
he pointed upwards. "Reign on for long years,
King — reign well and wisely, clinging to the Faith,
for thus at the last shall you reap your reward.
Farewell ! "

Now again "the horn blew, and in the bright
moonlight the slight figure of Noma couid be seen
advancing towards the stone.

Then Hokosa sprang from the wall and advanced
also, till at the same moment they climbed upon
the stone.

" Greeting, Hokosa," said Noma, and she stretched
out her hand to him.

By way of answer he placed his own behind
his back, saying, "To your business, woman."
Yet his eyes searched her face — the face that in
his folly he still loved ; and thus it came about
that he never saw sundry of the dead bodies, which
lay in the shadow of the stone, begin to quicken
into life, and inch by inch to arise, first to their
knees and next to their feet. H>e never saw or heard
them, yet, as the words left his lips, they sprang
upon him from every side, holding him so that he
could not move.

HOKOSA IS LIFTED UP 231

" Away with him ! " cried Noma, with a laugh
of triumph, and at her command he was half dragged
and half carried across the open space and thrust
violently over a stone wall into the camp of Hafela.

Now, Nodwengo and his soldiers saw what had
happened, and with a shout 01 " Treachery h" some
hundreds of them leapt into the plain, and begon
to run towards the koppie to rescue their envoy.

Hokosa heard the shout, and wrenching himself
round, beheld them.

" Back ! " he cried, in a clear, shrill voice. " Back !
Children of Nodwengo, and leave me to my fate,
for the foe waits for you by thousands behind the
wall ! "

A soldier struck him across the mouth, bidding
him be silent ; but his warning had come to the
ears of Nodwengo, causing him and his warriors
to halt and begin a retreat. It was well that they
did so, for seeing that they would not come on,
from under the shelter of the wall and of every
rock and stone soldiers jumped up by companies
and charged, driving them back to their own schanse.
But the King's men had the start of them, and had
taken shelter behind it, whence they greeted them
with a volley of spears, killing ten and wounding
twice as many more.

Now it was Hokosa's turn to laugh, and laugh
he did, saying :

[y taking is well paid for already, Prince.
A score of your best warriors is a heavy price tcr
^ive for the carcase of one weary and ageing man.

232 THE WIZARD

But since I am here among you, captured with so
much pain and loss, tell me of your courtesy why
I have been brought."

Then the Prince shook his spear at him and cursed
him.

" Would you learn, wizard and traitor ? " he
cried. " We have caught you because we know
well that while you stay yonder your magic counsel
will prevail against our might ; whereas, when once
we hold you fast, Nodwengo will wander to his ruin
like a blind and moonstruck man, for you were to
him both eyes and brain."

" I understand," said ' Hokosa, calmly. " But,
Prince, how if I have left my wisdom behind me ? "

"That may not be," answered Hafela, "since
even a wizard cannot throw his thoughts into the
heart of another from afar."

"Ah ! you think so, Prince. Well, ask Noma
yonder if I cannot throw my thoughts into her
heart from afar ; though of late I have not chosen
to do so, having put aside such spells. But let
it pass, and tell me, having taken me, what is it
you propose to do with me ? First, however, I
will give you for nothing some of that wisdom
which you grudge to Nodwengo the King. Be
advised by me, Prince, and take the terms that he
offers to you — namely, to turn this very night and
begone from the land without harm or hindrance.
Will you receive my gift, Hafela ? "

" What will happen if I refuse it ? " asked the
Prince, slowly.

HOKOSA IS LIFTED UP 233

Now Hokosa looked at the dust at his feet, then
he gazed upwards searching the heavens, and
answered :

" Did not I tell you yesterday ? I think that
this will happen. I think — but who can be quite
sure of the future, Hafela ? — that you and the most
of your army by this hour to-morrow night will
be lying fast asleep about this place, with jackals
for your bedfellows."

The Prince heard and trembled at his words,
for he believed that if he willed it, Hokosa could
prophesy the truth.

" Accursed dog ! " he said. " I am minded to
be guided by your saying ; but be sure of this,
that if I follow it, you shall stay here to sleep with
jackals, yes, this very night."

Then Noma broke in.

"Be not mad, Hafela!" she said. "Will you
listen to the lies that this renegade tells to work
upon your fears ? Will you abandon victory when
it lies within your grasp, and in place of a great
king become a fugitive whom all men mock at,
an outcast to be hunted down at leisure by that
brother against whom you dared to rebel, but on
whom you did not dare to shut your hand when
he lay in the hollow of it ? Silence the tongue of
this captive rogue for ever and become a man again,
with the heart of a man."

" Now," said Hokosa gently, " many would find
it hard to believe that I reared this woman from
childhood, nursing her with my own hands when

234 THE WIZARD

she was sick and giving her of the best I had ; that
afterwards, when you stole her from me, Prince,
I sinned deeply to win her back ; that I married
her and sinned yet more deeply to give her the
greatness she desired ; and that at last, of my own
will, I loosed the bonds by which I held her, though
I could not thrust her memory from my heart.
Yet I have earned it all, for I made her the tool of
my witchcraft, and therefore it is just that she should
turn and rend me. Well, if you like it, take her
counsel, Prince, and let mine go, for I care nothing
which you take ; only, forgive me if I prophesy
once more and for the last time — I believe that
Nodwengo yonder spoke truth when he bade your"
herald tell you that he who causes my blood to flow
shall surely die and be called to account for it. Prince,
I am a Christian now, and believe me, whatever you
may do, I seek no revenge upon you for it ; having
been myself forgiven so much, in my turn I have
learned to forgive. Yet it may be ill for that; man
who causes my blood to flow."

" Let him be strangled," said a captain who
stood near by, " and then there will Jbe no blood
in the matter."

"Friend," answered 'Hokosa, "you should have
been, not a soldier, but a pleader of causes. True
it is that then the Prince would only cause my life to
fly, but whether that be a smaller sin I leave you
to judge."

" Keep him prisoner," said another, " till we learn
how these matters end."

HOKOSA IS LIFTED UP 235

" Nay," answered Hafela, " for then he wi]l surely
outwit us and escape. Noma, what shall we do
with this man who was your husband ? Tell us,
for you should know best how to deal with him."

" Let me think," she answered, and she looked
first at the ground beneath her, next around her,
then upward toward the skies.

Now they stood at the foot of the koppie, on
the flat top of which grewr the great Tree of Doom,
that for generations had served the People of Fire
as a place of execution of their criminals, or of those
who fell under the ban of the King or of the Witch-
doctors. Among and above the finger-like fronds
of this strange and dreadful-looking tree towrered
that white dead limb shaped like a cross, which Owen
had pointed out to his disciple John, taking it to
be a sign and a promise. This cross stood out clear
against the sinking moon. It caught Noma's eye,
and a devilish thought entered into her heart.

" You would keep this fellow alive ? " she said,
I yet you would not suffer him to escape. See,
there above you is a cross such as he worships.
Bind him to it as he says the man whom he worships
was bound, and let that dead man help him if he
may."

The Prince and those about Noma shrank back
a little in horror. They were cruel men rendered
more cruel by their superstitious fear of one whom
they believed to be uncanny, one to whom they
attributed inhuman powers which he was exercising
to their destruction, but still this doom seemed

236 THE WIZARD

dreadful to them. Noma read their minds and went
on passionately :

" You deem me unmerciful, but you do not
know what I have suffered at this wizard's hands.
For his sake and because of him I am haunted.
For his own purposes he opened the gates of Distance,
he sent me down among the dwellers in Death,
causing me to interpret their words for him. I did
so, but the dwellers came back out of Death with me,
and from that hour they have not left me, nor will
they ever leave me ; for night by night they sojourn
at my side, tormenting me with terrors. He has
told me that through my mouth that spirit whom
he drew into my body prophesied that he should be
' lifted up above the people/ Let the prophecy be
fulfilled, let him be lifted up, for then perchance the
ghosts will depart from me and I shall win peace
and sleep. Also, thus alone can you hold him safe
and yet shed no blood."

" Be it so," said the Prince. " When we plotted
together of the death of the King, and as your
price, Hokosa, you bargained for the girl wrhom I
had chosen to wife, did I not warn you that this
witch of many spells, who holds both our hearts in
her little hands, should yet hound you to death and
mock you while you perish by an end of shame ?
What did I tell you, Hokosa ? "

Now when he heard his fate, Hokosa bowed his
head and trembled a little. Then he lifted it and
exclaimed in a clear voice :

" It is true, Prince, but I will 'add to your words.

HOKOSA IS LIFTED UP 237

She shall bring both of us to death. For me, I am
honoured indeed in that there has been allotted to me
that same end which my Master cnose. To that
cross let my sins be fastened and with them my
body."

Now the moon sank, but in the darkness men
were found who dared to climb the tree, taking
with them strips of raw hide. They reached the
top of it, four of them, and, seating themselves
upon the arms of the cross, they let down a rope,
the noose of which was placed about the body of
Hokosa. As it tightenejl upon him, he turned his
calm and dreadful eyes on to the eyes of Noma and
said to her :

" Woman, I do not reproach you ; but I lay this
fate upon you, that you shall watch me die. There-
after, let God deal with you as He may choose."

Now when she heard these words Noma shrieked
aloud, for of a sudden she felt that the power of the
will of Hokosa, from which she had been freed by
him, had once more fallen upon her, and that come
what might she was doomed to obey his last
commands.

Little by little the soldiers drew him up and in the
darkness they bound him fast there upon the lofty
cross. Then they descended and left him, and
would have led Noma with them from the tree.
But this they could not do, for always she broke
from them screaming and fled back into its
shadow.

Then, seeing that she was bewitched, Hafela

238 THE WIZARD

commanded that they should bind a cloth about
her mouth and leave her there till her senses returned
to her in the sunlight — for none of them dared
to stop with her in the shadow of that tree, since
the odours of it were poisonous to man ; also they
believed the place to be haunted by evil spirits.

CHAPTER XXII

THE VICTORY OF THE CROSS

THE sun rose suddenly over the edge of the cliffs,
and while it was yet deep shadow in the valley,
its red light struck upon the white cross of perished
wood that towered above the Tree of Doom and on
the black shape of Hokosa crucified to it living.
The camp of the King saw and understood, and from
every throat of* the thousands of men, women and
children gathered there, went up a roar of rage and
horror. The King lifted his hand, and silence fell
upon the place ; then he mounted on the wrall and
cried aloud :

" Do you yet live, Hokosa, or is it your body
only that those traitors have fastened to the
tree ? "

Back came the answer through the clear still air :

" I live, O King ! "

" Endure then a little while," called Nodwengo,
" and we will storm the tree and save you."

" Nay," answered Hokosa, " you cannot save me ;
yet before I die I shall see you saved."

Then his words were lost in tumult, for the third
day's fight began. Desperately the regiments of

230

240 THE WIZARD

Hafela, rushing across the open space, hurled them-
selves upon the fortifications, which during the
night had been strengthened by the addition of
two inner walls. Nor was this all, for suddenly a
cry told those in front that the regiment which
Hafela despatched across the mountains had
travelled up the eastern neck of the valley,
and were attacking the position in their' rear.
Well was it for Nodwengo now that he had
listened to the counsel of Hokosa, and, wearied
as his soldiers were, had commanded that here
also a great wall should be built.

For two hours the fight raged, and then on either
side the foe fell back, not beaten indeed, though their
dead were many, but to rest and take counsel.
But now a new trouble arose : from all the camp
of Nodwengo there went up a moan of pain to Heaven,
for since the evening of yesterday the spring had
given out, and they had found no water wherewith
to wet their lips. During the night they bore it ;
but now the sun beating down jon the black rocks
with fearful force scorched them to the marrow,
till they began to wither like fallen leaves, and
already wounded men and children died, while the
warriors cut the throats of oxen and drank their
blood.

Hokosa hanging on his cross heard the moaning
and divined the cause of it.

"Be of good comfort, children of Nodwengo,"
he cried ; " for I will pray that rain be" sent upon
you/' And he lifted his head and prayed.

THE VICTORY OF THE CROSS 241

Now, whether it was by, chance or whether his
prayer was heard, who can say ? At least it hap-
pened that immediately thereafter clouds began
to gather and to thicken in the blue of Heaven,
and within two hours rain fell in torrents,
so that every one could drink his fill, and the
spring being replenished at its sources, flowed again
strongly.

After the rain came cold and moaning winds,
and after the wind a great gloom and thunder.

Now, taking advantage of the shadow, the regi-
ments of Hafela renewed their attack, and this
time they carried the first of the three walls, for its
defenders grew feeble and few in number. There
they paused awhile, and save for the cries of the
wounded and of frightened women, the silence was
great.

" Le't your hearts be lifted up ! " cried the voice
of Hokosa through the silence ; " for the sunlight
shines upon the plain of the Great Place yonder,
and in it I see the sheen of spears. The irnpi travels
to your aid, O Children of Nodwengo."

Now, at this tidings the people of the King shouted
for joy ; but Hafela called to his regiments to
make an end of them, and they hurled themselves
upon the second wall, fighting desperately. Again,
and again they were beaten back, and again and
again they came on, till at length they carried this
wall also, driving its defenders, or those who remained
alive of them, into the third entrenchment, and
paused to rest awhile.

242 THE WIZARD

" Pray for us, O Prophet who are set on high ! "
cried a voice from the camp, "for if succour do
not reach us speedily we are sped."

Before the echoes of the voice had died awray,
a flash of lightning flared through the gloom, and
in the light of it Hokosa saw that the King's impi
was rushing up the gorge.

" Fight on ! Fight on ! " he called in answer.
" I have prayed to Heaven, and your succour is
at hand."

Then, with a howl of rage, Hafela's regiments
hurled themselves upon the third and last en-
' trenchment, attacking it at once in front and rear.
Twice they nearly carried it, but each time the
wild scream of Hokosa on high was heard above
the din, conjuring its defenders to fight on and fear
not, for Heaven had sent them help. They fought
as men have seldom fought before, and writh "them
fought the women and even the children. They
were few and the foe were still many, but they listened
to the urging of him whom they believed to be in-
spired in his death-agony upon the cross above
them, and still they held their own. Twice portions
of the wall were torn down, but they filled the breach
with the corpses of the dead, ay ! and with the
bodies of the living, for the wounded, the old men
and the very women piled themselves there in the
place of stones. No such fray was told of in the
annals of the People of Fire as this, the last stand
of Nodwengo against the thousands of Hafela.
Now all the shouting had died away, for men

THE VICTORY OF THE CROSS 243

had no breath left wherewith to shout, only
from the gloomy place of battle came low groans
and the deep sobbing sighs of warriors gripped in the
death-hug.

" Fight on ! Fight on ! " shrilled the voice of
Hokosa on high. " Lo ! the skies arje open to
my dying sight, and I see the impis of Heaven
sweeping to succour you. Behold ! "

They dashed the sweat from their eyes and looked
forth, and as they looked, the pall of gloom was
lifted, and in the golden glow of many-shafted
light they saw, not the legions of Heaven indeed,
but the regiments of Nodwengo rushing round the
bend of the valley, as dogs rush upon a scent, with
heads held low and spears out-stretched.

Hafela sa\v them also.

" Back to the koppie," he cried, " there to die
like men, for the wizardries of Hokosa have been
too strong for us, -and lost is this my last battle
and the crown I came to seek ! "

They obeyed, and all that were left of them,
some ten thousand men, they ran to the koppie
and formed themselves upon it, ring above ring,
and here the soldiers of Nodwengo closed in upon
them.

Again and for the last time the voice of Hokosa
rang out above the fiay.

" Nodwengo," he cried, " with my passing breath
I charge you have mercy and spare these men,
so many of them as will surrender. The day of
bloodshed has gone by, the fray is finished, the

,244 THE WIZARD

Cross has conquered ; let there be peace in the
land."

AH men heard him, for his piercing scream,
echoed from the precipices, came to the ears of
each. All men heard him, and, even in that fierce
hour of vengeance, all obeyed. The spear that was
poised was not thrown and the kerry lifted over
the fallen did not descend to dash away his
life.

" Hearken, Hafela ! " called the King, stepping
forward"" from the ranks of the attackers. "He
whom you have set on high to bring defeat upon
you charges me to give you peace, and in the
name of the conquering Cross I give it. All who
surrender shall dwell henceforth in my shadow,
nor shall the head or the heel of one of them be
harmed, although their sin is great. One life only
will I take, the life of that witch who brought
your armies down upon me to burn my town and
slay my people by thousands, and who but last
night betrayed Hokosa to his death of torment.
All shall go free, I say, save the witch , and for
you, you shall be given cattle and such servants
as will cling to you to the number of a hundred,
and driven from the land. Now, what say you ?
Will you yield or be slain ? Swift with your answer ;
for the sun sinks, and ere it is set there must be an
end in this way or in that."

The regiments of Hafela heard, and shouted in
answer as with one voice :

" We take your mercy, King ! We fought bravely

THE VICTORY OF THE CROSS 245

while we could, and now we take your mercy,
King ! "

" What say you, Hafela ? " repeated Nodwengo,
addressing the Prince, who stood upon a point of
rock above him in full sight of both armies.

Hafela turned^and looked at Hokosa hanging
high in mid-air.

" What say I ? " he answered in a slow and quiet
voice. " I say that the Cross and its Prophet have
been too strong for me, and that I should have done
well to follow the one and to listen to the counsel
of the other. My brother, you tell me that I may
go free, taking servants with me. I thank you and
I will go — alone."

And setting the handle of his spear upon the
rock, with a sudden movement he fell forward,
transfixing his heart with its broad blade, and
lay still.

" At least he died like on^ of the blood-royal of
the Sons of Fire ! " cried Nodwengo, while the
armies stood silent and awestruck, " and with the
blood-royal shall he be buried. Lay down your
arms, you who followed him and fought for him,
fearing nothing, and give over to me the witch that
she may be slain."

" She hides under the tree yonder ! " cried a
voice.

" Go up and take her," said Nodwengo to some
of his captains.

Now Noma, crouched on the ground beneath
the tree, had seen and heard all that passed.

246 THE WIZARD

Perceiving the captains making their way towards
her through the lines of the soldiers, who opened out
a path for them, she rose and for a moment
stood bewildered. Then, 'as though drawn by
some strange attraction, she turned, and seizing
hold of the creeper that clung, about it, she
began to climb the Tree of Doom swiftly. Up
she went while all men watched, higher and higher
yet, till passing out of the finger-like foliage she
reached the cross of dead wood wrhereto Hokosa
hung, and placing her feet upon one arm 01 it,
stood there, supporting herself by the broken top
of the upright.

Hokosa was not yet dead, though he was very
nea:r to death. Lifting his glazing eyes, he knew
her and said, speaking thickly :

" What do you here, Noma, and wherefore have
you come ? "

" I come because you draw me," she answered,
" and because they seek my life below."

" Repent, repent ! " he whispered, " there is yet
time and Heaven is very merciful."

She heard and a fury seized her.

" Be silent, dog ! " she cried. " Having defied your
God so long, shall I grovel to Him at the last ?
Having hated you so much, shall I seek your for-
giveness now ? At least of one thing I am glad-
it was I who brought you here, and with me and
through me you shall die."

Then, placing one foot upon his bent head as if
in scorn, she leaned forward, her long hair flying

THE VICTORY OF THE CROSS 247

to the wind, and cursed Nodwengo and his people,
naming them renegades and apostates, and cursed
the soldiers of Hafela, naming them cowards,
calling down upon them the malison of their
ancestors..

Hokosa heard and muttered :

"For your soul's sake, woman, repent! repent,
ere it be too late ! "

" Repent ! " she screamed, catching at his words.
" Thus do I repent ! " and drawing the knife from
her girdle, she leant over him and droVe it hilt-deep
into his breast.

Then with a sudden movement she sprang up-
wards and outwards into the air, and rushing
down through a hundred feet of space, was struck
dead upon that very rock where the corpse of
Hafela lay.

Now, beneath the agony of the knife Hokosa
lifted his head for the last time, crying in a gre
voic<

" Messenger, I come, be you my guide," and
with the words his soul passed.

" All is ova~ and ended," said a voice. " Soldiers,
salute the King with the royal salute."

"N iv," answered Nodwengo. "Salute me not,
salute the Cross and him who hangs upon it."

So, while the rays of the setting sun shone about
it, regiment by regiment that great army rushed
past the koppie, and pausing opposite to the Cross
and its burden, they rendered to it the royal salute
of kings.

248 THE WIZARD

Then the night fell, and thus through the
power of Faith that now, as of old, is the
only true and efficient magic, was accomplished
the mission ^ of the Saint, Thomas Owen, to
the Sons of Fire, and of his disciple, the Wizard
Hokosa.

THE END

PRINTING OFFICE OF THE PUBLISHERS

"I'D LIKE TO TAKE UP
PELMANISM, BUT—"

SOME DOUBTS DISPELLED.

THE very prominence which Pelmanism has attained during recent
years forms the basis of a doubt which exists in the minds of many
people. A business girl said to me only the other day, " I 'd like to
take up Pelmanism, but it 's so much advertised that I wonder
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The association of extensive advertising with quackery is a
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Inquiry revealed the fact that she had read only one or two of
the Pelman announcements closely, though she had glanced in a
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questions was opened upon me. Was there anything in
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IS THE CASE OVERSTATED?

Did not the advertisements overstate the case ? Wasn'i the
most made of the successes attained by a few students, while the
many secured no benefit worth speaking of ? To all of which I
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400,000 people would voluntarily adopt Pelmanism unless they
were convinced that they would gain in some way from the
study ? Would so many of the leaders of thought, including
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the most searching investigation ?

TREBLED MY INCOME.

These broadsides took instant effect, and I followed up my
advantage by mentioning some of the results Pelmanism had
achieved in my own case : vast improvement in memory ; keener
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concentration. I reserved for my final shots the two most
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The first of these had a telling effect, for this would-be Pelmanist
was full of ambitious plans in business. I told her that during
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the major part of the credit for this financial improvement. The
other result was the consummation of an ambitious plan which

had often contemplated, but which, until I had become a
Pelmanist, I honestly believed to be something unattainable.

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mid not explain how it was that men of the calibre of Admiral
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.r R. S. S. Baden-Powell, Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, Sir William
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'..P., Mr. George R. Sims, Mr. "Max Pemberton, and many others
ime to write such glowing tributes to this Course in Mind and
Memory Training.

He agreed that their testimony was unimpeachable, and
Imitted (rather, reluctantly, I thought) that perhaps there was
ore in Pelmanism than he had supposed. It is the declared
Mnion of hundreds of Pelmanists that the announcements of the
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Ivertisements tell. nothing but the truth, they do not tell all the
uth, on the principle, I take it, that enough is as good as a feast.

Then there 's the man who says : " Yes, Pelmanism is no doubt
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mceYnmg Jt^eimamsm, apply to trie reiman institute, at tne
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