es en cabochon, and on each certain characters were
engraved. No doubt this detracted from their value as gems, yet the
characters might have been removed and the stones cut in facets, and
these rubies would still have been the noblest in the world. I was no
jewel merchant to guess their value, but I knew enough to see that here
was wealth beyond human computation. At each end of the string was a
great pearl and a golden clasp. The sight absorbed me to the exclusion
of all fear. I, David Crawfurd, nineteen years of age, an
assistant-storekeeper in a back-veld dorp, was privileged to see a
sight to which no Portuguese adventurer had ever attained. There,
floating on the smoke-wreaths, was the jewel which may once have burned
in Sheba's hair. As the priest held the collar aloft, the assembly
rocked with a strange passion. Foreheads were rubbed in the dust, and
then adoring eyes would be raised, while a kind of sobbing shook the
worshippers. In that moment I learned something of the secret of
Africa, of Prester John's empire and Tchaka's victories.

'In the name of God,' came the voice, 'I deliver to the heir of John
the Snake of John.'

Laputa took the necklet and twined it in two loops round his neck till
the clasp hung down over his breast. The position changed. The priest
knelt before him, and received his hands on his head. Then I knew
that, to the confusion of all talk about equality, God has ordained
some men to be kings and others to serve. Laputa stood naked as when
he was born, The rubies were dulled against the background of his skin,
but they still shone with a dusky fire. Above the blood-red collar his
face had the passive pride of a Roman emperor. Only his great eyes
gloomed and burned as he looked on his followers.

'Heir of John,' he said, 'I stand before you as priest and king. My
kingship is for the morrow. Now I am the priest to make intercession
for my people.'

He prayed--prayed as I never heard man pray before--and to the God of
Israel! It was no heathen fetich he was invoking, but the God of whom
he had often preached in Christian kirks. I recognized texts from
Isaiah and the Psalms and the Gospels, and very especially from the two
last chapters of Revelation. He pled with God to forget the sins of
his people, to recall the bondage of Zion. It was amazing to hear
these bloodthirsty savages consecrated by their leader to the meek
service of Christ. An enthusiast may deceive him