n-shaped column of dense
white smoke, behind which Menzi vanished, all except his outstretched
hands.

"Look on to the smoke, White people, and do you, Little Flower, tell me
what you see there," he called from behind this vaporous veil.

Tabitha stared, they all stared. Then she cried out:

"I see a room, I see an old man in a clergyman's coat reading a letter.
Why, it is the Dean whom we used to know in Natal. There's the wart on
his nose and the tuft of hair that hangs down over his eye, and he's
reading a letter written by Father. I know the writing. It begins, 'My
dear Dean, Providence has appointed me to a strange place'----"

"Is that what you see also, Teacher?" asked Menzi. "And if so, is it
what you pictured in your thought?"

Thomas turned away and uttered something like a groan, for indeed he
had thought of the Dean and of the letter he had written to him a month
before.

"The Teacher is not satisfied," said Menzi. "If he had seen all he
thought of, being so good and honest, he would tell us. There is some
mistake. My Spirit must have deceived me. Think of something else,
Teacher, and tell the lady, and the child Imba, and Kosa, and another,
what it is you are thinking of. Go aside and tell them where I cannot
hear."

Thomas did so--in some way he felt compelled to do so.

"I am going to think of the church as I propose it shall be when
finished according to the plans I have made," he said hoarsely. "I am
going to think of it with a belfry spire roofed with red tiles and a
clock in the tower, and I am going to think of the clock as pointing
to the exact hour of noon. Do you all understand? It is impossible that
this man should know of how I mean to build that spire and about the
clock, because until this moment no one knew except myself. If he
can show me that, I shall begin to believe that he is inspired by his
master, the devil. Do you all understand?"

They said they did, and Menzi called out:

"Be quick, White Teacher. Be quick, I grow tired. My Spirit grows tired.
The smoke grows tired. Come, come, come!"

They returned and stood in front of the fire, and in obedience to
Menzi's motions once more the fan of smoke arose. On it grew something
nebulous, something uncertain that by degrees took the form of a church.
It was not very clear, perhaps because Thomas found it difficult to
conceive the exact shape of the church as it would be when it was
finished, or only conceived it bit by bit. One