now, day by day for something over a month owen preached the gospelbefore the king, his councillors, and hundreds of the head men of thenation. they listened to him attentively, debating the new doctrinepoint by point; for although they might be savages, these people werevery keen-witted and subtle. very patiently did owen sow, and atlength to his infinite joy he also gathered in his first-fruit. onenight as he sat in his hut labouring as usual at the work oftranslation, wherein he was assisted by john whom he had taught toread and write, the prince nodwengo entered and greeted him. for awhile he sat silent watching the white man at his task, then hesaid:--"messenger, i have a boon to ask of you. can you teach me tounderstand those signs which you set upon the paper, and to make themalso as does john your servant?""certainly," answered owen; "if you will come to me at noon to-morrow,we will begin."the prince thanked him, but he did not go away. indeed, from hismanner owen guessed that he had something more upon his mind. atlength it came out.
"messenger," he said, "you have told us of baptism whereby we areadmitted into the army of your king; say, have you the power of thisrite?""i have.""and is your servant here baptised?""he is.""then if he who is a common man can be baptised, why may not i who ama prince?""in baptism," answered owen, "there is no distinction between thehighest and the lowest; but if you believe, then the door is open andthrough it you can join the company of heaven.""messenger, i do believe," answered the prince humbly.
then owen was very joyful, and that same night, with john for awitness, he baptised the prince, giving him the new name ofconstantine, after the first christian emperor.
on the following day nodwengo, in the presence of owen, who on thispoint would suffer no concealment, announced to the king that he hadbecome a christian. umsuka heard, and for a while sat silent. then hesaid in a troubled voice:--"truly, messenger, in the words of that book from which you read tous, i fear that you have come hither to bring, 'not peace but asword.' now when the witch-doctors and the priests of fire learn this,that he whom i have chosen to succeed me has become the servant ofanother faith, they will stir up the soldiers and there will be civilwar. i pray you, therefore, keep the matter secret, at any rate for awhile, seeing that the lives of many are at stake.""in this, my father," answered the prince, "i must do as the messengerbids me; but if you desire it, take from me the right of successionand call back my brother from the northern mountains.""that by poison or the spear he may put all of us to death, nodwengo!
be not afraid; ere long when he learns all that is happening here,your brother hafela will come from the northern mountains, and thespears of his /impis/ shall be countless as the stars of the sky.
messenger, you desire to draw us to the arms of your god--and myself,i am at times minded to follow the path of my son nodwengo and seek arefuge there--but say, will they be strong enough to protect us fromhafela and the warriors of the north? already he gathers his clans,and already my captains desert to him. by-and-by, in the spring-time--may i be dead before the day--he will roll down upon us like a floodof water----""to fall back like waters from a wall of rock," answered owen. "'letnot your heart be troubled,' for my master can protect his servants,and he will protect you. but first you must confess him openly, asyour son has done.""nay, i am too old to hurry," said the king with a sigh. "your taleseems full of promise to one who is near the grave; but how can i knowthat it is more than a dream? and shall i abandon the worship of myfathers and change, or strive to change, the customs of my people tofollow after dreams? nodwengo has chosen his part, and i do not blamehim; yet, for the present i beseech you both to keep silence on thismatter, lest to save bloodshed i should be driven to side againstyou.""so be it, king," said owen; "but i warn you that truth has a loudvoice, and that it is hard to hide the shining of a light in a darkplace, nor does it please my lord to be denied by those who confesshim.""i am weary," replied the old king, and they saluted him and went.
in obedience to the wish of umsuka his father, the conversion ofnodwengo was kept secret, and yet--none knew how--the thing leakedout. soon the women in their huts, and the soldiers by their watch-fires, whispered it in each other's ears that he who was appointed tobe their future ruler had become a servant of the unknown god. that hehad forsworn war and all the delights of men; that he would take butone wife and appear before the army, not in the uniform of a general,but clad in a white robe, and carry, not the broad spear, but a crossof wood. swiftly the strange story flew from mouth to mouth, yet itwas not altogether believed till it chanced that one day when he wasreviewing a regiment, a soldier who was drunk with beer openlyinsulted the prince, calling him "a coward who worshipped a coward."now men held their breaths, waiting to see this fool led away to dieby torture of the ant-heap or some other dreadful doom. but the princeonly answered:
"soldier, you are drunk, therefore i forgive you your words. whetherhe whom you blaspheme will forgive you, i know not. get you gone!"the warriors stared and murmured, for by those words, wittingly orunwittingly, their general had confessed his faith, and that day theymade ribald songs about him in the camp. but on the morrow when theylearned how that the man whom the prince spared had been seized by alion and taken away as he sat at night with his companions in thebivouac, his mouth full of boasting of his own courage in offeringinsult to the prince and the new faith, then they looked at each otheraskance and said little more of the matter. doubtless it was chance,and yet this spirit whom the messenger preached was one of whom itseemed wisest not to speak lightly.
but still the trouble grew, for by now the witch-doctors, with hokosaat the head of them, were frightened for their place and power, andfomented it both openly and in secret. of the women they asked whatwould become of them when men were allowed to take but one wife? ofthe heads of kraals, how they would grow wealthy when their daughtersceased to be worth cattle? of the councillors and generals, how theland could be protected from its foes when they were commanded to laydown the spear? of the soldiers, whose only trade was war, how itwould please them to till the fields like girls? dismay took hold ofthe nation, and although they were much loved, there was open talk ofkilling or driving away the king and nodwengo who favoured the whiteman, and of setting up hafela in their place.
at length the crisis came, and in this fashion. the amasuka, like manyother african tribes, had a strange veneration for certain varietiesof snakes which they declared to be possessed by the spirits of theirancestors. it was a law among them that if one of these snakes entereda kraal it must not be killed, or even driven away, under pain ofdeath, but must be allowed to share with the human occupants any hutthat it might select. as a result of this enforced hospitality deathsfrom snake-bite were numerous among the people; but when they happenedin a kraal its owners met with little sympathy, for the doctorsexplained that the real cause of them was the anger of some ancestralspirit towards his descendants. now, before john was despatched toinstruct owen in the language of the amasuka a certain girl was sealedto him as his future wife, and this girl, who during his absence hadbeen orphaned, he had married recently with the approval of owen, whoat this time was preparing her for baptism. on the third morning afterhis marriage john appeared before his master in the last extremity ofgrief and terror.
"help me, messenger!" he cried, "for my ancestral spirit has enteredour hut and bitten my wife as she lay asleep.""are you mad?" asked owen. "what is an ancestral spirit, and how canit have bitten your wife?""a snake," gasped john, "a green snake of the worst sort."then owen remembered the superstition, and snatching blue-stone andspirits of wine from his medicine chest, he rushed to john's hut. asit happened, he was fortunately in time with his remedies andsucceeded in saving the woman's life, whereby his reputation as adoctor and a magician, already great, was considerably enlarged.
"where is the snake?" he asked when at length she was out of danger.
"yonder, under the kaross," answered john, pointing to a skin rugwhich lay in the corner.
"have you killed it?""no, messenger," answered the man, "i dare not. alas! we must livewith the thing here in the hut till it chooses to go away.""truly," said owen, "i am ashamed to think that you who are achristian should still believe so horrible a superstition. does yourfaith teach you that the souls of men enter into snakes?"now john hung his head; then snatching a kerry, he threw aside thekaross, revealing a great green serpent seven or eight feet long. withfury he fell upon the reptile, killed it by repeated blows, and hurledit into the courtyard outside the house.
"behold, father," he said, "and judge whether i am stillsuperstitious." then his countenance fell and he added: "yet my lifemust pay for this deed, for it is an ancient law among us that to harmone of these snakes is death.""have no fear," said owen, "a way will be found out of this trouble."that afternoon owen heard a great hubbub outside his kraal, and goingto see what was the matter, he found a party of the witch-doctorsdragging john towards the place of judgment, which was by the king'shouse. thither he followed to discover that the case was already incourse of being opened before the king, his council, and a vastaudience of the people. hokosa was the accuser. in brief and pregnantsentences, producing the dead snake in proof of his argument, hepointed out the enormity of the offence against the laws of theamasuka wherewith the prisoner was charged, demanding that the man whohad killed the house of his ancestral spirit should instantly be putto death.
"what have you to say?" asked the king of john.
"this, o king," replied john, "that i am a christian, and to me thatsnake is nothing but a noxious reptile. it bit my wife, and had it notbeen for the medicine of the messenger, she would have perished of thepoison. therefore i killed it before it could harm others.""it is a fair answer," said the king. "hokosa, i think that this manshould go free.""the king's will is the law," replied hokosa bitterly; "but if the lawwere the king's will, the decision would be otherwise. this man hasslain, not a snake, but that which held the spirit of an ancestor, andfor the deed he deserves to die. hearken, o king, for the business islarger than it seems. how are we to be governed henceforth? are we tofollow our ancient rules and customs, or must we submit ourselves to anew rule and a new custom? i tell you, o king, that the people murmur;they are without light, they wander in the darkness, they cannotunderstand. play with us no more, but let us hear the truth that wemay judge of this matter."umsuka looked at owen, but made no reply.
"i will answer you, hokosa," said owen, "for i am the spring of allthis trouble, and at my command that man, my disciple, killed yondersnake. what is it? it is nothing but a reptile; no human spirit everdwelt within it as you imagine in your superstition. you ask to hearthe truth; day by day i have preached it in your ears and you have notlistened, though many among you have listened and understood. what isit that you seek?""we seek, messenger, to be rid of you, your fantasies and yourreligion; and we demand that our king should expel you and restore theancient laws, or failing this, that you should prove your power openlybefore us all. your word, o king!"umsuka thought for a while and answered:--"this is my word, hokosa: i will not drive the messenger from theland, for he is a good man; he saved my life, and there is virtue inhis teaching, towards which i myself incline. yet it is just that heshould be asked to prove his power, so that an end may be put to doubtand all of us may learn what god we are to worship.""how can i prove my power," asked owen, "further than i have proved italready? does hokosa desire to set up his god against my god--thefalse against the true?""i do," answered the wizard with passion, "and according to the issuelet the judgment be. let us halt no longer between two opinions, letus become wholly christian or rest wholly heathen, for to be dividedis to be destroyed. the magic of the messenger is great; once and forall let us learn if it is more than our magic. let us put him and hisdoctrines to the trial by fire.""what is the trial by fire?" asked owen.
"you have seen something of it, white man, but not much. this is thetrial by fire: to stand yonder before the face of the god of thunderwhen a great tempest rages--not such a storm as you saw, but a stormthat splits the heavens--and to come thence unscathed. listen: i whoam a 'heaven-herd,' i who know the signs of the weather, tell you thatwithin two days such a tempest as this will break upon us. then whiteman, i and my companions will be ready to meet you on the plain. takethe cross by which you swear and set it up yonder and stand by it, andwith you your converts, nodwengo the prince, and this man whom youhave named john, if they dare to go. over against you, around thesymbol of the god by which we swear, will stand i and my company, andwe will pray our god and you shall pray your god. then the storm willbreak upon us, and when it is ended we shall learn which of us remainalive. if you and your cross are shattered, to us will be the victory;if we are laid low, take it for your own. your judgment, king!"again umsuka thought and answered:--"so be it. messenger, hear me. there is no need for you to accept thischallenge; but if you will not accept it, then go from my country inpeace, taking with you those who cleave to you. if on the other handyou do accept it, these shall be the stakes: that if you pass thetrial unharmed, and the fire-doctors are swept away, your creed shallbe my creed and the creed of the land; but if the fire-doctors prevailagainst you, then it shall be death or banishment to any who professthat creed. now choose!""i have chosen," said owen. "i will meet hokosa and his company on theplace of fire whenever he may appoint, but for the others i cannotsay.""we will come with you," said nodwengo and john, with one voice;"where you go, messenger, we will surely follow."
