make one of them King of the Rain?" Tu-Kila-Kila asked once
more, stretching one hand toward the sky with theatrical magnificence.
"Did I not declare the other Queen of the Clouds in Heaven? And have I
not caused them to bring down showers this night upon our crops? Has not
the dry earth drunk? Am I not the great god, the Saviour of Boupari?"

"Tu-Kila-Kila says well," the chiefs responded, once more, in unanimous
chorus.

Tu-Kila-Kila struck another attitude with childish self-satisfaction.
"I go into the hut to speak with my ministers," he said, grandiloquently.
"Fire and Water, wait you here outside while I enter and speak with my
friends from the sun, whom I have brought for the salvation of the crops
to Boupari."

The King of Fire and the King of Water, supporting the umbrella, bowed
assent to his words. Tu-Kila-Kila motioned Felix and Muriel into the
nearest hut. It was the one where the two Shadows lay crouching in terror
among the native mats. As the god tried to enter, the two cowering
wretches set up a loud shout, "Taboo! Taboo! Mercy! Mercy! Mercy!"
Tu-Kila-Kila retreated with a contemptuous smile. "I want to see you
alone," he said, in Polynesian, to Felix. "Is the other hut empty? If
not, go in and cut their throats who sit there, and make the place a
solitude for Tu-Kila-Kila."

"There is no one in the hut," Felix answered, with a nod, concealing his
disgust at the command as far as he was able.

"That is well," Tu-Kila-Kila answered, and walked into it carelessly.
Felix followed him close and deemed it best to make Muriel enter also.

As soon-as they were alone, Tu-Kila-Kila's manner altered greatly. "Come,
now," he said, quite genially, yet with a curious under-current of hate
in his steely gray eye; "we three are all gods. We who are in heaven need
have no secrets from one another. Tell me the truth; did you really come
to us direct from the sun, or are you sailing gods, dropped from a great
canoe belonging to the warriors who seek laborers for the white men in
the distant country?"

Felix told him briefly, in as few words as possible, the story of their
arrival.

Tu-Kila-Kila listened with lively interest, then he said, very
decisively, with great bravado, "It was _I_ who made the big wave wash
your sister overboard. I sent it to your ship. I wanted a Korong just now
in Boupari. It was _I_ who brought you."

"You are mistaken," Felix said, simply, not thinking it worth while to
contradict h