sieur," the Frenchman answered, shrugging his shoulders with an
expression of utter impotence, "I have as good reasons for wishing to
find out all that as even you can have. _Your_ secret is _my_ secret;
but with all my pains and astuteness I have been unable to discover
it. The natives are reticent, very reticent indeed, about all these
matters. They fear taboo; and they fear Tu-Kila-Kila. The women, to
be sure, in a moment of expansion, might possibly tell one; but, then,
the women, unfortunately, are not admitted to the mysteries. They know
no more of all these things than we do. The most I have been able to
gather for certain is this--that on the discovery of the secret depend
Tu-Kila-Kila's life and power. Every Boupari man knows this Great Taboo;
it is communicated to him in the assembly of adults when he gets tattooed
and reaches manhood. But no Boupari man ever communicates it to
strangers; and for that reason, perhaps, as I believe, Tu-Kila-Kila often
chooses for Korong, as far as possible, those persons who are cast by
chance upon the island. It has always been the custom, so far as I can
make out, to treat castaways or prisoners taken in war as gods, and then
at the end of their term to kill them ruthlessly. This plan is popular
with the people at large, because it saves themselves from the dangerous
honors of deification; but it also serves Tu-Kila-Kila's purpose, because
it usually elevates to Heaven those innocent persons who are unacquainted
with that fatal secret which is, as the natives say, Tu-Kila-Kila's
death--his word of dismissal."

"Then if only we could find out this secret--" Felix cried.

His new friend interrupted him. "What hope is there of your finding
it out, monsieur," he exclaimed, "you, who have only a few months to
live--when I, who have spent nine long years of exile on the island, and
seen two Tu-Kila-Kilas rise and fall, have been unable, with my utmost
pains, to discover it? _Tenez_; you have no idea yet of the superstitions
of these people, or the difficulties that lie in the way of fathoming
them. Come this way to my aviary; I will show you something that will
help you to realize the complexities of the situation."

He rose and led the way to another cleared space at the back of the hut,
where several birds of gaudy plumage were fastened to perches on sticks
by leathery lashes of dried shark's skin, tied just above their talons.
"I am the King of the Birds, monsieur, you must rem