confess that after this my nerve, which is generally pretty good,
gave out to such an extent that I think I fainted for a few minutes.
During that faint I seemed to be carrying on a conversation with Mavovo,
though whether it ever took place or I only imagined it I am not sure,
since I always forgot to ask him.

He said, or I thought he said, to me:

"And now, Macumazana, my father, what have you to say? Does my Snake
stand upon its tail or does it not? Answer, I am listening."

To which I replied, or seemed to reply:

"Mavovo, my child, certainly it appears as though your Snake _does_
stand upon its tail. Still, I hold that all this is a phantasy; that
we live in a land of dream in which nothing is real except those things
which we cannot see or touch or hear. That there is no me and no you
and no Snake at all, nothing but a Power in which we move, that shows us
pictures and laughs when we think them real."

Whereon Mavovo said, or seemed to say:

"Ah! at last you touch the truth, O Macumazana, my father. All things
are a shadow and we are shadows in a shadow. But what throws the shadow,
O Macumazana, my father? Why does Dogeetah appear to come hither riding
on a white ox and why do all these thousands think that my Snake stands
so very stiff upon its tail?"

"I'm hanged if I know," I replied and woke up.

There, without doubt, _was_ old Brother John with a wreath of flowers--I
noted in disgust that they were orchids--hanging in a bacchanalian
fashion from his dinted sun-helmet over his left eye. He was in a
furious rage and reviling Bausi, who literally crouched before him, and
I was in a furious rage and reviling him. What I said I do not remember,
but he said, his white beard bristling with indignation while he
threatened Bausi with the handle of the butterfly net:

"You dog! You savage, whom I saved from death and called Brother. What
were you doing to these white men who are in truth my brothers, and to
their followers? Were you about to kill them? Oh! if so, I will forget
my vow, I will forget the bond that binds us and----"

"Don't, pray don't," said Bausi. "It is all a horrible mistake; I am
not to be blamed at all. It is that witch-doctor, Imbozwi, whom by the
ancient law of the land I must obey in such matters. He consulted his
Spirit and declared that you were dead; also that these white lords
were the most wicked of men, slave-traders with spotted hearts, who came
hither to spy out the Mazitu pe