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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 this matter." Umsuka looked at Owen, but made no reply.
"Have I not already told you, and can I not win 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 Noma pointed at the cross hewn in the granite.
Infected by the contagion, Umsuka, his guard 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."
A herald stood forward 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.
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.
"The storm gathers, and when it breaks none are safe upon this plain except the heaven doctors such as Hokosa and his companions who can bind the lightning." So they went and when they reached the further side of the stream Umsuka descended from his litter. "Messenger," he said, "this is the story of the god as it has come down to us.
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 who gave you to drink?" Now Umsuka staggered to his feet, and cried aloud in a voice that was thick with rage:
"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 with it a double gift of cattle from the king, who has been saved alive by the magic of this white man. And now, Messenger, farewell, for my head grows weary. To-morrow I will speak with you."
"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 thing 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 a servant of the unknown God.
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 a great doctor, you are also a brave man, and such I honour.
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