"Who can say?" he answered. "Nearly half-a-million, perhaps; at least
they pretend that they can put sixty thousand men under arms."

"And did they treat you badly when you first visited them?"

"Not at first. They received us civilly enough; and on a given day we
were requested to explain to the king and the Council of Wizards the
religion which we came to teach. All that day we explained and all
the next--or rather my friend did, for I knew very little of the
language--and they listened with great interest. At last the chief of
the wizards and the first prophet to the king rose to question us. He
was named Hokosa, a tall, thin man, with a spiritual face and terrible
calm eyes.

"'You speak well, son of a White Man,' he said, 'but let us pass from
words to deeds. You tell us that this God of yours, whom you desire that
we should take as our God, so that you may become His chief prophets in
the land, was a wizard such as we are, though grater than we are; for
not only did He know the past and the future as we do, but also He could
cure those who were smitten with hopeless sickness, and raise those
who were dead, which we cannot do. You tell us, moreover, that by faith
those who believe on Him can do works as great as He did, and that you
do believe on Him. Therefore we will put you to the proof. Ho! there,
lead forth that evil one.'

"As he spoke a man was placed before us, one who had been convicted of
witchcraft or some other crime.

"'Kill him!' said Hokosa.