ided for.

The King of Water whispered low in the new god's ear. "You must eat of
his body, my lord," he said. "That is absolutely necessary. Every one of
us must eat of the flesh of the god; but you, above all, must eat his
heart, his divine nature. Otherwise you can never be full Tu-Kila-Kila."

"I don't care a straw for that," Felix cried, now aroused to a full sense
of the break in Methuselah's story and trembling with apprehension. "You
may kill me if you like; we can die only once; but human flesh I can
never taste; nor will I, while I live, allow you to touch this dead man's
body. We will bury it ourselves, the King of the Birds and I. You may
tell your people so. That is my last word." He raised his voice to the
customary ceremonial pitch. "I, the new Tu-Kila-Kila," he said, "have
spoken it."

The King of Fire and the King of Water, taken aback at his boldness,
conferred together for some seconds privately. The people meanwhile
looked on and wondered. What could this strange hitch in the divine
proceedings mean? Was the god himself recalcitrant? Never in their lives
had the oldest men among them known anything like it.

And as they whispered and debated, awe-struck but discordant, a shout
arose once more from the outer circle--a mighty shout of mingled
surprise, alarm, and terror. "Taboo! Taboo! Fence the mysteries. Beware!
Oh, great god, we warn you. The mysteries are in danger! Cut her down!
Kill her! A woman! A woman!"

At the words, Felix was aware of somebody bursting through the dense
crowd and rushing wildly toward him. Next moment, Muriel hung and sobbed
on his shoulder, while Mali, just behind her, stood crying and moaning.

Felix held the poor startled girl in his arms and soothed her. And
all around another great cry arose from five hundred lips: "Two women
have profaned the mysteries of the god. They are Tu-Kila-Kila's
trespass-offering. Let us kill them and eat them!"

CHAPTER XXX.

SUSPENSE.

In a moment, Felix's mind was fully made up. There was no time to think;
it was the hour for action. He saw how he must comport himself toward
this strange wild people. Seating Muriel gently on the ground, Mali
beside her, and stepping forward himself, with Peyron's hand in his, he
beckoned to the vast and surging crowd to bespeak respectful silence.

A mighty hush fell at once upon the people. The King of Fire and the King
of Water stood back, obedient to his nod. They waited for the upshot