em. Even the other day, I never heard of your
arrival till a fortnight had elapsed, for I had been sick with fever, the
fever of the country, and as soon as my Shadow told me of your advent it
was my taboo again, and I was obliged to defer for myself the honor of
calling upon my new acquaintances. I am a god, of course, and can do
what I like; but while my taboo is on, _ma foi_, monsieur, I can hardly
call my life my own, I assure you."

"But your taboo is up to-day," Felix said, "so my Shadow tells me."

"Your Shadow is a well-informed young man," M. Peyron answered, with easy
French sprightliness. "As for my donkey of a valet, he never by any
chance knows or tells me anything. I had just sent him out--the pig--to
learn, if possible, your nationality and name, and what hours you
preferred, as I proposed later in the day to pay my respects to
mademoiselle, your friend, if she would deign to receive me."

"Miss Ellis would be charmed, I'm sure," Felix replied, smiling in spite
of himself at so much Parisian courtliness under so ragged an exterior.
"It is a great pleasure to us to find we are not really alone on this
barbarous island. But you were going to explain to me, I believe, the
exact nature of this peril in which we both stand--the precise
distinction between Korong and Tula?"

"Alas, monsieur," the Frenchman replied, drawing circles in the dust with
his stick with much discomposure, "I can only tell you I have been trying
to make out the secret of this distinction myself ever since the first
day I came to the island; but so reticent are all the natives about it,
and so deep is the taboo by which the mystery is guarded, that even now
I, who am myself Tula, can tell you but very little with certainty on the
subject. All I can say for sure is this--that gods called Tula retain
their godship in permanency for a very long time, although at the end
some violent fate, which I do not clearly understand, is destined to
befall them. That is my condition as King of the Birds--for no doubt
they have told you that I, Jules Peyron--Republican, Socialist,
Communist--have been elevated against my will to the honors of royalty.
That is my condition, and it matters but little to me, for I know not
when the end may come; and we can but die once; how or where, what
matters? Meanwhile, I have my distractions, my little _agrements_--my
gardens, my music, my birds, my native friends, my coquetries, my aviary.
As King of the Birds, I