attended than any others had ever been, because his congregation felt
that the matter was extremely urgent, affecting them all, and that now
was the time when, whatever happened to the heathen, good Christians
like themselves should be rewarded.

However this did not chance, since the drought went on as fiercely as
before.

Menzi was, of course, a rain-doctor, a "Heaven-herd" of the highest
distinction; one who, it was reputed, could by his magic cause the
most brazen sky to melt in tears. His services had been called in by
neighbouring tribes, with the result, it was rumoured, that those tribes
had been rewarded with partial showers. Also with great ceremony he had
gone through his rites for the benefit of the heathen section of the
Sisa people. Behold! by some curious accident on the following day
a thunderstorm had come up, and with it a short deluge of rain which
sufficed to make it certain that the crops in those fields on which it
fell would keep alive, at any rate for a while.

But mark what happened. As is not uncommon in the case of thunder
showers, this rain fell upon the lands which the heathen cultivated on
one side of the koppie, whereas those that belonged to the Christian
section upon the other side received not a single drop. The unjust were
bedewed, the just were left dry as bones. All that they received was the
lightning, which killed an old man, one of the best Christians in the
place. The limits of the torrent might have been marked off with a line.
When it had passed, to the heathen right stood pools of water; to the
Christian left there was nothing but blowing dust.

Now these Christians, weak-kneed some of them, began to murmur,