ing 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?"

"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 beginning 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, who have been great and the councillor of kings, 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