follow in his footsteps. Me also you may murder if you will, and then
another and another; but still the messengers shall come, till at
last your ears are opened and you listen. Only, for such deeds your
punishment must be heavy."

"What is the message, White Man?"

"A message of peace, of forgiveness, and of life beyond the grave, of
life everlasting. Listen, King. Yesterday you were near to death; say
now, had you stepped over the edge of it, where would you be this day?"

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; in the
night we hear the echo of their voices. When they are angry they haunt
the thunder-cloud, and when they are pleased they smile in the sunshine.
Sometimes also they appear in the shape of snakes, or visit us in
dreams, and then we offer them sacrifice. Yonder on the hillside is a
haunted wood; it is full of their spirits, White Man, but they cannot
talk, they only mutter, and their footfalls sound like the dropping of
heavy rain, for they are strengthless and unhappy, and in the end they
fade away."

"So you say," answered Owen, "who are not altogether without
understanding, yet know little, never having been taught. Now listen to
me," and very earnestly he preached to him and those about him of peace,
of forgiveness, and of life everlasting.