s mass of heavy vapors as if he had the
strength to disperse them. Then, standing upright, he seemed to intend
stopping them in their course, and one would have said that, owing to
his gigantic height, he could have seized them.

The superstitious Moini, "overcome" by the acting of this tall
comedian, could no longer control herself. Cries escaped her. She
raved in her turn, and instinctively repeated the magician's gestures.
The courtiers and the crowd followed her example, and the mute's
guttural sounds were lost amid those songs; cries, and yells which the
native language furnishes with so much prodigality.

Did the clouds cease to rise on the eastern horizon and veil the
tropical sun? Did they vanish before the exorcisms of this new wizard?
No. And just at this moment, when the queen and her people imagined
that they had appeased the evil spirits that had watered them with so
many showers, the sky, somewhat clear since daybreak, became darker
than ever. Large drops of rain fell pattering on the ground.

Then a sudden change took place in the crowd. They then saw that this
sorcerer was worth no more than the others. The queen's brows were
frowning. They understood that he at least was in danger of losing
his ears. The natives had contracted the circle around him; fists
threatened him, and they were about to punish him, when an unforeseen
incident changed the object of their evil intentions.

The magician, who overlooked the whole yelling crowd, stretched his
arms toward one spot in the enclosure. The gesture was so imperious
that all turned to look at it.

Mrs. Weldon and little Jack, attracted by the noise and the clamor,
had just left their hut. The magician, with an angry gesture, had
pointed to them with his left hand, while his right was raised toward
the sky.

They! it was they'! It was this white woman--it was her child--they
were causing all this evil. They had brought these clouds from their
rainy country, to inundate the territories of Kazounde.

It was at once understood. Queen Moini, pointing to Mrs. Weldon, made
a threatening gesture. The natives, uttering still more terrible
cries, rushed toward her.

Mrs. Weldon thought herself lost, and clasping her son in her arms,
she stood motionless as a statue before this over-excited crowd.

The magician went toward her. The natives stood aside in the presence
of this wizard, who, with the cause of the evil, seemed to have found
the remedy.

The tra