Thus Owen spoke on till, in reproving the weakness of another, he felt his own faith come back to him and, remembering the past and how he had been preserved in it, the doubt and trouble went out of his mind to return no more.

The third day—­the day of trial—­came.  For sixty hours or more the heat of the weather had been intense; indeed, during all that time the thermometer in Owen’s hut, notwithstanding the protection of a thick hatch, had shown the temperature to vary between a maximum of 113 and a minimum of 101 degrees.  Now, in the early morning, it stood at 108.

“Will the storm break to-day?” asked Owen of Nodwengo, who came to visit him.

“They say so, Messenger, and I think it by the feel of the air.  If so, it will be a very great storm, for the heaven is full of fire.  Already Hokosa and the doctors are at their rites upon the plain yonder, but there will be no need to join them till two hours after midday.”

“Is the cross ready?” asked Owen.

“Yes, and set up.  It is a heavy cross; six men could scarcely carry it.  Oh!  Messenger, I am not afraid—­and yet, have you no medicine?  If not, I fear that the lightning will fall upon the cross as it fell upon the pole and then——­”

“Listen, Nodwengo,” said Owen, “I know a medicine, but I will not use it.  You see that waggon chain?  Were one end of it buried in the ground and the other with a spear blade made fast to it hung to the top of the cross, we could live out the fiercest storm in safety.  But I say that I will not use it.  Are we witch doctors that we should take refuge in tricks?  No, let faith be our shield, and if it fail us, then let us die.  Pray now with me that it may not fail us.”

*****

It was afternoon.  All round the Field of Fire were gathered thousands upon thousands of the people of the Amasuka.  The news of this duel between the God of the white man and their god had travelled far and wide, and even the very aged who could scarcely crawl and the little ones who must be carried were collected there to see the issue.  Nor had they need to fear disappointment, for already the sky was half hidden by dense thunder-clouds piled ridge on ridge, and the hush of the coming tempest lay upon the earth.  Round about the meteor stone which they called a god, each of them stirring a little gourd of medicine that was placed upon the ground before him, but uttering no word, were gathered Hokosa and his followers to the number of twenty.  They were all of them arrayed in their snakeskin dresses and other wizard finery.  Also each man held in his hand a wand fashioned from a human thigh-bone.  In front of the stone burned a little fire, which now and again Hokosa fed with aromatic leaves, at the same time pouring medicine from his bowl upon the holy stone.  Opposite the symbol of the god, but at a good distance from it, a great cross of white wood was set up in the rock by a spot which the witch-doctors themselves had chosen.  Upon the banks of the stream, in the place apart, were the king, his councillors and the regiment on guard, and with them Owen, the Prince Nodwengo and John.