cine 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 wood was set up in the rock by a spot
which the witch-doctors themselves had chosen. Upon the banks of the
stream, in the 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 calling
Owen and the prince to him, said: "Messenger, my son tells me that your
wisdom knows a plan whereby you may be preserved from the fury of the
tempest. Use it, I pray of you, 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 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 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 of 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