sun is down great evil will overtake you."

"Do you threaten me, Messenger? Well, we will see. Let him be killed, I
say."

Then the man was led away; but, before he went he found time to thank
Owen and Nodwengo the prince, and to call down good fortune upon them.

CHAPTER VI

THE DRINKING OF THE CUP

Now the king's word was done, the anger went out of his eyes, and once
more his countenance grew weary. A command was issued, and, with the
most perfect order, moving like one man, the regiments changed their
array, forming up battalion upon battalion in face of the king, that
they might give him the royal salute so soon as he had drunk the cup of
the first-fruits.

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.

When all had done, the Prince Hafela came forward, lifted his spear, and
cried:--

"A boon, King!"

"What is it?" asked his father, eyeing him curiously.

"A small matter, King," he replied. "A while ago I named a certain
woman, Noma, the ward of Hokosa the wizard, and she was sealed to me
to fill the place of my first wife, the queen that is to be. She passed
into the House of the Royal Women, and, by your command, King, it was
fixed that I should marry her according to our customs to-morrow,
after the feast of the first-fruits is ended. King, my heart is changed
towards that woman; I no longer desire to take her to wife, and I pray
that you will order that she shall now be handed back to Hokosa her
guardian."

"You blow hot and cold with the same mouth, Hafela," said Umsuka, "and
in love or war I do not like such men. What have you to say to this
demand, Hokosa?"

Now Hokosa stepped forward from where he stood at the head of the
company of wizards. His dress, like that of his companions, was simple,
but in its way striking. On his shoulders he wore a cloak of shining
snakeskin; about his loins was a short kilt of the same material; and
round his forehead, arms and knees were fillets of snakeskin. At his
side hung his pouch of medicines, and in his hand he held no spear, but
a wand of ivory, whereof the top was roughly carved so as to resemble
the head of a cobra reared up to strike.

"King," he