. He dare not go! He thinks the
hillside 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 will lick you up and you shall be no more, and there will
be an end of you and the symbol of your God."

"Cease your boastings," 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
blasphemous mocking song.

Now to the west all the heavens were black as night, though the
eastern sky still showed blue and cloudless. Nature lay oppressed with
silence--silence intense and unnatural; and so great was the heat that
the air danced visibly above the ironstone as it dances about a glowing
stove. Suddenly 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, that the three men indeed seemed clothed with a curious dignity.
Perhaps it was their slow and quiet gait, perhaps a sense of the errand
upon which they were bound; or it may have been the strange unearthly
light that fell upon them from over the edge of the storm cloud; at the
least, as the multitude became aware, 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 eart