he tramped on with his load Marufa yelled in his ear that he must carry
the Burden of the World no matter what happened to him, for if he let the
idol fall then would he be killed upon the spot to save the sky from
falling too. Wondering what this meant and where he was going, the cut of
thongs upon his legs surprised him into a halt. Immediately a terrific cry
went up:

"The Bearer of the World stumbles! Aie! Aieeeeeeeee!"

Despite the furious flogging the intellectual interest in this strange
conception distracted his mind from the pain of the blows; also his bare
back was protected by the idol and his leggings and trousers deadened the
lashes. A moment more he hesitated. But he was unarmed and had voluntarily
taken on the adventure, so he would see it through. As he broke into a
shuffling run, for the idol fortunately was lighter than the previous one
and he was a more powerful man than Kawa Kendi, another howl of joy and
relief echoed throughout the village.

So along the old forest trail he travelled as fast as he could, assisted
slightly by wizards' hands as he crawled over clumps of undergrowth. The
intensity of the whipping had decreased as soon as they were out of the
village but throughout an occasional vicious whack testified to the
presence of some devout doctor. Thus it was that the white King-God came
to his throne and sat in state upon his bed to smile at the reflections of
a melancholic philosopher.

So far so good, reflected Birnier, although the enforced isolation and
strict curtailment of his actions had already begun to be irksome; yet to
attain so difficult a goal sacrifice must be borne, he argued
philosophically.

The royal larder, he noticed with thankfulness, was kept well stocked.
Every day appeared a slave who left just within the entrance chickens,
bananas, milk and fresh water, and sometimes a young goat. All such
provisions which he had happened to take into the forest with him and so
had escaped MYalu's marauding hands had been placed in his tent with other
cases, as containing no man knew what mighty magic.

For three days he had been left utterly alone. Sounds of drums and
chanting from the distant village had reached them on the still air, but
what they were doing he could not discover. No layman was allowed to come
near the sacred enclosure. While he strolled, taking a smoke and
constitutional around and around his "pen," as he put it, several of the
lesser wizards appeared and