great god crossed the white taboo-line of his precincts, followed
only beyond the limit by Fire and Water.

Tu-Kila-Kila was in his most insolent vein. He glanced around with a
horrid light of triumph dancing visibly in his eyes. It was clear he had
come, intent upon some grand theatrical _coup_. He meant to take the
white-faced stranger by surprise this time. "Good-morning, O King of the
Rain," he exclaimed, in a loud voice and with boisterous familiarity.
"How do you like your outlook now? Things are getting on. Things are
getting on. The end of your rule is drawing very near, isn't it? Before
long I must make the seasons change. I must make my sun turn. I must
twist round my sky. And then, I shall need a new Korong instead of you, O
pale-faced one!"

Felix looked back at him without moving a muscle.

"I am well," he answered shortly, restraining his anger. "The year turns
round whether you will or not. You are right that the sun will soon begin
to move southward on its path again. But many things may happen to all of
us meanwhile. _I_ am not afraid of you."

As he spoke, he drew his knife, and opened the blade, unostentatiously,
but firmly. If the worst were really coming now, sooner than he expected,
he would at least not forget his promise to Muriel.

Tu-Kila-Kila smiled a hateful and ominous smile. "I am a great god," he
said, calmly, striking an attitude as was his wont. "Hear how my people
clap their hands in my honor! I order all things. I dispose the course of
nature in heaven and earth. If I look at a cocoa-nut tree, it dies; if I
glance at a bread-fruit, it withers away. We will see before long whether
or not you are afraid of me. Meanwhile, O Korong, I have come to claim my
dues at your hands. Prepare for your fate. To-morrow the Queen of the
Clouds must be sealed my bride. Fetch her out, that I may speak with her.
I have come to tell her so."

It was a thunderbolt from a clear sky, and it fell with terrible effect
on Felix. For a moment the knife trembled in his grasp with an almost
irresistible impulse. He could hardly restrain himself, as he heard those
horrible, incredible words, and saw the loathsome smirk on the speaker's
face by which they were accompanied, from leaping then and there at the
savage's throat, and plunging his blade to the haft into the vile
creature's body. But by a violent effort he mastered his indignation and
wrath for the present. Planting himself full in front of Tu-Kila-Kil