to your satisfaction."

"Your words, O King! have been most implicitly obeyed, and we thank you
for them, as also for the welcome that you have extended to us,"
returned Dick. "The four Spirits of the Winds will be pleased to learn,
when we return, that you have not forgotten the injunctions that they
laid upon you."

"The four Spirits of the Winds!" ejaculated the king, in great surprise,
not wholly untinged with trepidation--which emotions were even more
strongly displayed by the chiefs who stood about him. "Know ye then
those terrible beings?" [Note 1.]

"Even so," answered Dick composedly. "We know that they twice visited
the Makolo country; and we also know,"--he added with emphasis--"what
happened upon each of those occasions. We know what happened to
M'Bongwele, the former king of the Makolo; and we know why Lobelalatutu
was chosen king in his place."

"_Wau_!" murmured the assembled chiefs behind their hands, in
awestricken tones; "it is wonderful!" while Lobelalatutu shifted
uneasily in his seat as he gazed apprehensively in the faces of his two
visitors. For nearly a minute he remained silent, apparently debating
within himself some very puzzling question. Then he said:

"I would that I knew, O white men, all the reasons that have led you to
visit the Makolo country. They must be many and great to have induced
you to cross the Great Water, and to take so long, so wearisome, and so
dangerous a journey afterwards."

"Listen then, O King Lobelalatutu, and you shall be told," answered
Dick. "My friend here is a great hunter; he loves the excitement of the
chase, even as do your own young men. But in our own country the people
are so many that there is little room for game, which is consequently
very scarce. Therefore my friend said: `Lo, I will go to Africa, where
the people are few and game is abundant, and there will I hunt the lion,
the leopard, the elephant, the rhinoceros, the buffalo, and all those
other animals that afford good sport, and are not to be found in
England; also I am desirous of seeing the wonderful ruins of that great
and ancient city whereof the four Spirits of the Winds have spoken;
therefore will I go to the Makolo country, wherein those ruins are to be
found, and become the friend, if I may, of the king, and his people.'
And, as for me, I am a healer of all kinds of sickness; I am also a
seeker of gold, and the stones that glitter. Therefore said my friend
to me: `Come,