the wrist.

"Stay," he whispered, "it is true. The king must die; for if he does not
die within three days, I shall cease to be his heir. I know it through
my spies. He is angry with me; he hates me, and he loves Nodwengo
and the mother of Nodwengo. But if he dies before the last day of the
festival, then that decree will never pass his lips, and the regiments
will never roar out the name of Nodwengo as the name of the king to
come. He must die, I tell you, Hokosa, and--by your hand."

"By _my_ hand, Prince! Nay; what have you to offer me in return for such
a deed as this? Have I not grown up in Umsuka's shadow, and shall I cut
down the tree that shades me?"

"What have I to offer you? This: that next to myself you shall be the
greatest in the land, Hokosa."

"That I am already, and whoever rules it, that I must always be. I, who
am the chief of wizards; I, the reader of men's hearts; I, the hearer
of men's thoughts! I, the lord of the air and the lightning; I, the
invulnerable. If you would murder, Prince, then do the deed; do it
knowing that I have your secret, and that henceforth you who rule shall
be my servant. Nay, you forget that I can see in the dark; lay down that
assegai, or, by my spirit, prince as you are, I will blast you with a
spell, and your body shall be thrown to the kites, as that of one who
would murder his king and father!"

The prince heard and shook, his cheeks sank in, the muscles of his great
form seemed to collapse, and he grovelled on the floor of the hut.

"I know your magic," he groaned; "use it for me, not against me! What
is there that I can offer you, who have everything except the throne,
whereon you cannot sit, seeing that you are not of the blood-royal?"

"Think," said Hokosa.

For a while the prince thought, till presently his form straightened
itself, and with a quick movement he lifted up his head.

"Is it, perchance, my affianced wife?" he whispered; "the lady Noma,
whom I love, and who, according to our custom, I shall wed as the queen
to be after the feast of first-fruits? Oh! say it not, Hokosa."

"I say it," answered the wizard. "Listen, Prince. The lady Noma is the
only child of my blood-brother, my friend, with whom I was brought up,
he who was slain at my side in the great war with the tribes of the
north. She was my ward: she was more; for through her--ah! you know
not how--I held my converse with the things of earth and air, the very
spirits that watch us now in