n a
lightning flash by the breadth of a single hair. God alone can turn it,
and for the sake of His cause among these people I believe that He will
do so."

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 medi