en on that morning a
month before moving towards the cave. He stood as if in a trance,
straight as a tree, with his arms crossed on his breast. A robe of
some shining white stuff fell from his shoulders, and was clasped round
his middle by a broad circle of gold. His head was shaven, and on his
forehead was bound a disc of carved gold. I saw from his gaze that his
old eyes were blind.

'Who comes?'he asked as I entered.

'A messenger from the Inkulu,' I spoke up boldly. 'He follows soon
with the white man, Henriques.'

Then I sat down in the back row of the circle to await events. I
noticed that my neighbour was the fellow 'Mwanga whom I had kicked out
of the store. Happily I was so dusty that he could scarcely recognize
me, but I kept my face turned away from him. What with the light and
the warmth, the drone of the water, the silence of the folk, and my
mental and physical stress, I grew drowsy and all but slept.

[1] The Communion Sabbath.

[2] A title applied only to the greatest chiefs.

CHAPTER XI

THE CAVE OF THE ROOIRAND

I was roused by a sudden movement. The whole assembly stood up, and
each man clapped his right hand to his brow and then raised it high. A
low murmur of 'Inkulu' rose above the din of the water. Laputa strode
down the hall, with Henriques limping behind him. They certainly did
not suspect my presence in the cave, nor did Laputa show any ruffling
of his calm. Only Henriques looked weary and cross. I guessed he had
had to ride my pony.

The old man whom I took to be the priest advanced towards Laputa with
his hands raised over his head. A pace before they met he halted, and
Laputa went on his knees before him. He placed his hands on his head,
and spoke some words which I could not understand. It reminded me, so
queer are the tricks of memory, of an old Sabbath-school book I used to
have which had a picture of Samuel ordaining Saul as king of Israel. I
think I had forgotten my own peril and was enthralled by the majesty of
the place--the wavering torches, the dropping wall of green water,
above all, the figures of Laputa and the Keeper of the Snake, who
seemed to have stepped out of an antique world.

Laputa stripped off his leopard skin till he stood stark, a noble form
of a man. Then the priest sprinkled some herbs on the fire, and a thin
smoke rose to the roof. The smell was that I had smelled on the
Kirkcaple shore, sweet, sharp, and strange enough to chi