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

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

"It is 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 Palace, 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 wroth, 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 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 this 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 woma