pears on high. Seeing all this his spirit broke, and, just as the
little clock in the room behind him struck the first stroke of midnight,
with a great and bitter cry to God to give him back the faith and
strength that he had lost, Owen's head fell forward and he sank into a
swoon there upon the window-place.

CHAPTER IV

THE VISION

Was it swoon or sleep?

At least it seemed to Owen that presently once again he was gazing into
the dense intolerable blackness of the night. Then a marvel came to
pass, for the blackness opened, or rather on it, framed and surrounded
by it, there appeared a vision. It was the vision of a native town,
having a great bare space in the centre of it encircled by hundreds or
thousands of huts. But there was no one stirring about the huts, for
it was night--not this his night of trial indeed, since now the sky was
strewn with innumerable stars. Everything was silent about that town,
save that now and again a dog barked or a fretful child wailed within
a hut, or the sentries as they passed saluted each other in the name of
the king.

Among all those hundreds of huts, to Owen it seemed that his attention
was directed to one which stood apart surrounded with a fence. Now the
interior of the hut opened itself to him. It was not lighted, yet with
his spirit sense he could see its every detail: the polished floor, the
skin rugs, the beer gourds, the shields and spears, the roof-tree of red
wood, and the dried lizard hanging from the thatch, a charm to ward off
evil. In this hut, seated face to face halfway between the centre-post
and the door-hole, were two men. The darkness was deep about them, and
they whispered to each other through it; but in his dream this was no
bar to Owen's sight. He could discern their faces clearly.

One of them was that of a man of about thirty-five years of age. In
stature he was almost a giant. He wore a kaross of leopard skins, and on
his wrists and ankles were rings of ivory, the royal ornaments. His face
was fierce and powerful; his eyes, which were set far apart, rolled
so much that at times they seemed all white; and his fingers played
nervously with the handle of a spear that he carried in his right hand.
His companion was of a different stamp; a person of more than fifty
years, he was tall and spare in figure, with delicately shaped hands
and feet. His hair and little beard were tinged with grey, his face was
strikingly handsome, nervous and expressive,