n her elbow, and gazed snake-like into his face, "My
lord's Eyes are everywhere," she said, reverently, with every mark of
respect. "He sees and knows all things. Who can hide anything on earth
from his face? Even when he is asleep, his Eyes watch well for him. Then
why should the great god, the Measurer of Heaven and Earth, the King of
Men, fear a white-faced stranger? To-morrow the Queen of the Clouds will
be yours, and the stranger will be abased: ha, ha, he will grieve at it!
To-night, Fire and Water keep guard and watch over you. Whoever would
hurt you must pass through Fire and Water before he reach your door. Fire
would burn, Water would drown. This is a Great Taboo. No stranger dare
face it."

Tu-Kila-Kila lifted himself up in his thrasonic mood. "If he did," he
cried, swelling himself, "I would shrivel him to ashes with one flash of
my eyes. I would scorch him to a cinder with one stroke of my lightning."

Ula smiled again, a well-satisfied smile. She was working her man up.
"Tu-Kila-Kila is great," she repeated, slowly. "All earth obeys him. All
heaven fears him."

The savage took her hand with a doubtful air. "And yet," he said, toying
with it, half irresolute, "when I went to the white-faced stranger's hut
this morning, he did not speak fair; he answered me insolently. His words
were bold. He talked to me as one talks to a man, not to a great god.
Ula, I wonder if he knows my secret?"

Ula started back in well-affected horror. "A white-faced stranger from
the sun know your secret, O great king!" she cried, hiding her face in a
square of cloth. "See me beat my breast! Impossible! Impossible! No
one of your subjects would dare to tell him so great a taboo. It would be
rank blasphemy. If they did, your anger would utterly consume them!"

"That is true," Tu-Kila-Kila said, practically, "but I might not discover
it. I am a very great god. My Eyes are everywhere. No corner of the world
is hid from my gaze. All the concerns of heaven and earth are my care,
And, therefore; sometimes, I overlook some detail."

"No man alive would dare to tell the Great Taboo!" Ula repeated,
confidently. "Why, even I myself, who am the most favored of your
wives, and who am permitted to bask in the light of your presence--even
I, Ula--I do not know it. How much less, then, the spirit from the sun,
the sailing god, the white-faced stranger!"

Tu-Kila-Kila pursed up his brow and looked preternaturally wise, as the
savage loves to