on the following day, while owen sat eating his morning meal with athankful heart, a messenger arrived saying that the king would receivehim whenever it pleased him to come. he answered that he would be withhim before noon, for already he had learned that among natives oneloses little by delay. a great man, they think, is rich in time, andhurries only to wait upon his superiors.
at the appointed hour a guard came to lead him to the royal house, andthither owen went, followed by john bearing a bible. umsuka was seatedbeneath a reed roof supported by poles and open on all sides; behindhim stood councillors and attendants, and by him were nodwengo theprince, and hokosa, his mouth and prophet. although the day was hot,he wore a kaross or rug of wild catskins, and his face showed that theeffects of the poisoned draught were still upon him. at the approachof owen he rose with something of an effort, and, shaking him by thehand, thanked him for his life, calling him "doctor of doctors.""tell me, messenger," he added, "how it was that you were able to cureme, and who were in the plot to kill me? there must have been morethan one," and he rolled his eyes round with angry suspicion.
"king," answered owen, "if i knew anything of this matter, the powerthat wrote it on my mind has wiped it out again, or, at the least, hasforbidden me to speak of its secret. i saved you, it is enough; forthe rest, the past is the past, and i come to deal with the presentand the future.""this white man keeps his word," thought hokosa to himself, and helooked at him thanking him with his eyes.
"so be it," answered the king; "after all, it is wise not to stir adung-heap, for there we find little beside evil odours and the nestsof snakes. now, what is your business with me, and why do you comefrom the white man's countries to visit me? i have heard of thosecountries, they are great and far away. i have heard of the white menalso--wonderful men who have all knowledge; but i do not desire tohave anything to do with them, for whenever they meet black peoplethey eat them up, taking their lands and making them slaves. once,some years ago, two of you white people visited us here, but perhapsyou know that story.""i know it," answered owen; "one of those men you murdered, and theother you sent back with a message which he delivered into my earsacross the waters; thousands of miles away.""nay," answered the king, "we did not murder him; he came to us withthe story of a new god who could raise the dead and work othermiracles, and gave such powers to his servants. so a man was slain andwe begged of him to bring him back to life; and since he could not, wekilled him also because he was a liar.""he was no liar," said owen; "since he never told you that he hadpower to open the mouth of the grave. still, heaven is merciful, andalthough you murdered him that was sent to you, his master has chosenme to follow in his footsteps. me also you may murder if you will, andthen another and another; but still the messengers shall come, till atlast your ears are opened and you listen. only, for such deeds yourpunishment must be heavy.""what is the message, white man?""a message of peace, of forgiveness, and of life beyond the grave, oflife everlasting. listen, king. yesterday you were near to death; saynow, had you stepped over the edge of it, where would you be thisday?"umsuka shrugged his shoulders. "with my fathers, white man.""and where are your fathers?""nay, i know not--nowhere, everywhere: the night is full of them; inthe night we hear the echo of their voices. when they are angry theyhaunt the thunder-cloud, and when they are pleased they smile in thesunshine. sometimes also they appear in the shape of snakes, or visitus in dreams, and then we offer them sacrifice. yonder on the hillsideis a haunted wood; it is full of their spirits, white man, but theycannot talk, they only mutter, and their footfalls sound like thedropping of heavy rain, for they are strengthless and unhappy, and inthe end they fade away.""so you say," answered owen, "who are not altogether withoutunderstanding, yet know little, never having been taught. now listento me," and very earnestly he preached to him and those about him ofpeace, of forgiveness, and of life everlasting.
"why should a god die miserably upon a cross?" asked the king atlength.
"that through his sacrifice men might become as gods," answered owen.
"believe in him and he will save you.""how can we do that," asked the king again, "when already we have agod? can we desert one god and set up another?""what god, king?""i will show him to you, white man. let my litter be brought."the litter was brought and the king entered it with labouring breath.
passing through the north gate of the great place, the party ascendeda slope of the hill that lay beyond it till they reached a flat plainsome hundreds of yards in width. on this plain vegetation grewscantily, for here the bed rock of ironstone, denuded with frequentand heavy rains, was scarcely hidden by a thin crust of earth. on thefurther side of the plain, however, and separated from it by a littlestream, was a green bank of deep soft soil, beyond which lay a gloomyvalley full of great trees, that for many generations had been theburying-place of the kings of the amasuka.
"this is the house of the god," said the king.
"a strange house," answered owen, "and where is he that dwells in it?""follow me and i will show you, messenger; but be swift, for alreadythe sky grows dark with coming tempest."now at the king's command the bearers bore him across the sere plateautowards a stone that lay almost in its centre. presently they halted,and, pointing to this mass, the king said:--"behold the god!"owen advanced and examined the object. a glance told him that this godof the amasuka was a meteoric stone of unusual size. most of suchstones are mere shapeless lumps, but this one bore a peculiarresemblance to a seated human being holding up one arm towards thesky. so strange was this likeness that, other reasons apart, it seemednot wonderful that savages should regard the thing with awe andveneration. rather would it have been wonderful had they not done so.
"say now," said owen to the king when he had inspected the stone,"what is the history of this dumb god of yours, and why do you worshiphim?""follow me across the stream and i will tell you, messenger," answeredthe king, again glancing at the sky. "the storm gathers, and when itbreaks none are safe upon this plain except the heaven doctors such ashokosa and his companions who can bind the lightning."so they went and when they reached the further side of the streamumsuka descended from his litter.
"messenger," he said, "this is the story of the god as it has comedown to us. from the beginning our land has been scourged withlightning above all other lands, and with the floods of rain thataccompany the lightning. in the old days the great place of the kingwas out yonder among the mountains, but every year fire from heavenfell upon it, destroying much people: and at length in a great tempestthe house of the king of that day was smitten and burned, and hiswives and children were turned to ashes. then that king held a councilof his wizards and fire-doctors, and these having consulted thespirits of their forefathers, retired into a place apart to fast andpray; yes, it was in yonder valley, the burying ground of kings, thatthey hid themselves. now on the third night the god of fire appearedto the chief of the doctors in his sleep, and he was shaped like aburning brand and smoke went up from him. out of the smoke he spoke tothe doctor, saying: 'for this reason it is that i torment your people,that they hate me and curse at me and pay me little honour.'
"in his dream the doctor answered: 'how can the people honour a godthat they do not see?' then the god said: 'rise up now in the night,all the company of you, and go take your stand upon the banks ofyonder stream, and i will fall down in fire from heaven, and there onthe plain you shall find my image. then let your king move his greatplace into the valley beneath the plain, and henceforth my bolts shallspare it and him. only, month by month you shall make prayers andofferings to me; moreover, the name of the people shall be changed,for it shall be called the people of fire.'
"now the doctor rose, and having awakened his companions, he told themof his vision. then they all of them went down to the banks of thisstream where we now stand. and as they waited there a great tempestburst over them, and in the midst of that tempest they saw the flamingfigure of a man descend from heaven, and when he touched the earth itshook. the morning came and there upon the plain before them, wherethere had been nothing, sat the likeness of the god as it sits to-dayand shall sit for ever. so the name of this people was changed, andthe king's great place was built where it now is.
"since that day, messenger, no hut has been burned and no man killedin or about the great place by fire from heaven, which falls only herewhere the god is, though away among the mountains and elsewhere menare sometimes killed. but wait a while and you shall see with youreyes. hokosa, do you, whom the lightning will not touch, take thatpole of dead wood and set it up yonder in the crevice of the rock notfar from the figure of the god.""i obey," said hokosa, "although i have brought no medicines with me.
perhaps," he added with a faint sneer, "the white man, who is so greata wizard, will not be afraid to accompany me."now owen saw that all those present were looking at him curiously. itwas evident they believed that he would not dare to accept thechallenge. therefore he answered at once and without hesitation:--"certainly i will come; the pole is heavy for one man to carry, andwhere hokosa goes, there i can go also.""nay, nay, messenger," said the king, "the lightning knows hokosa andwill turn from him, but you are a stranger to it and it will eat youup.""king," answered owen, "i do not believe that hokosa has any powerover the lightning. it may strike him or it may strike me; but unlessmy god so commands, it will strike neither of us.""on your head be it, white man," said hokosa, with cold anger. "come,aid me with the pole."then they lifted the dead tree, and between them carried it into themiddle of the plain, where they set it up in a crevice of the rock. bythis time the storm was almost over them, and watching it owenperceived that the lightnings struck always along the bank of thestream, doubtless following a hidden line of the bed of ironstone.
"it is but a very little storm," said hokosa contemptuously, "such asvisit us almost every afternoon at this period of the year. ah! whiteman, i would that you could see one of our great tempests, for theseare worth beholding. this i fear, however, that you will never do,seeing it is likely that within some few minutes you will have passedback to that king who sent you here, with a hole in your head and ablack mark down your spine.""that we shall learn presently, hokosa," answered owen; "for my part,i pray that no such fate may overtake you."now hokosa moved himself away, muttering and pointing with hisfingers, but owen remained standing within about thirty yards of thepole. suddenly there came a glare of light, and the pole was splitinto fragments; but although the shock was perceptible, they remainedunhurt. almost immediately a second flash leaped from the cloud, andowen saw hokosa stagger and fall to his knees. "the man is struck," hethought to himself, but it was not so, for recovering his balance, thewizard walked back to the stream.
owen never stirred. from boyhood courage had been one of his goodqualities, but it was a courage of the spirit rather than of theflesh. for instance, at this very moment, so far as his body wasconcerned, he was much afraid, and did not in the least enjoy standingupon an ironstone plateau at the imminent risk of being destroyed bylightning. but even if he had not had an end to gain, he would havescorned to give way to his human frailties; also, now as always, hisfaith supported him. as it happened the storm, which was slight,passed by, and no more flashes fell. when it was over he walked backto where the king and his court were standing.
"messenger," said umsuka, "you are not only a great doctor, you arealso a brave man, and such i honour. there is no one among us here,not being a lord of the lightning, who would have dared to stand uponthat place with hokosa while the flashes fell about him. yet you havedone it; it was hokosa who was driven away. you have passed the trialby fire, and henceforth, whether we refuse your message or accept it,you are great in this land.""there is no need to praise me, king," answered owen. "the risk issomething; but i knew that i was protected from it, seeing that ishall not die until my hour comes, and it is not yet. listen now: yourgod yonder is nothing but a stone such as i have often seen before,for sometimes in great tempests they come to earth from the clouds.
you are not the first people that have worshipped such a stone, butnow we know better. also this plain before you is full of iron, andiron draws the lightning. that is why it never strikes your townbelow. the iron attracts it more strongly than earth and huts ofstraw. again, while the pole stood i was in little danger, for thelightning strikes the highest thing; but after the pole was shatteredand hokosa wisely went away, then i was in some danger, only noflashes fell. i am not a magician, king, but i know some things thatyou do not know, and i trust in one whom i shall lead you to trustalso.""we will talk of this more hereafter," said the king hurriedly, "forone day, i have heard and seen enough. also i do not believe yourwords, for i have noted ever that those who are the greatest wizardsof all say continually that they have no magic power. hokosa, you havebeen famous in your day, but it seems that henceforth you who have ledmust follow.""the battle is not yet fought, king," answered hokosa. "to-day i metthe lightnings without my medicines, and it was a little storm; when iam prepared with my medicines and the tempest is great, then i willchallenge this white man to face me yonder, and then in that hour /my/god shall show his strength and /his/ god shall not be able to savehim.""that we shall see when the time comes," answered owen, with a smile.
that night as owen sat in his hut working at the translation of st.
john, the door was opened and hokosa entered.
"white man," said the wizard, "you are too strong for me, thoughwhence you have your power i know not. let us make a bargain. show meyour magic and i will show you mine, and we will rule the land betweenus. you and i are much akin--we are great; we have the spirit sight;we know that there are things beyond the things we see and hear andfeel; whereas, for the rest, they are fools, following the fleshalone. i have spoken.""very gladly will i show you my magic, hokosa," answered owencheerfully, "since, to speak truth, though i know you to be wicked,and guess that you would be glad to be rid of me by fair means orfoul; yet i have taken a liking for you, seeing in you one who from asinner may grow into a saint.
"this then is my magic: to love god and serve man; to eschew wizardry,wealth, and power; to seek after holiness, poverty and humility; todeny your flesh, and to make yourself small in the sight of men, thatso perchance you may grow great in the sight of heaven and save yoursoul alive.""i have no stomach for that lesson," said hokosa.
"yet you shall live to hunger for it," answered owen. and the wizardwent away angered but wondering.
