as gods? If so, it might
serve as some little protection for them.

The procession formed again, three and three, three and three, in solemn
silence. Then the chief walked in front of them with measured steps, and
Felix and Muriel followed behind, wondering. As they went, the cry rose
louder and louder than before, "Taboo! Taboo!" People who met them fell
on their faces at once, as the chief cried out in a loud tone, "The King
of the Rain! The Queen of the Clouds! Korong! Korong! They are coming!
They are coming!"

At last they reached a second cleared space, standing in a large garden
of manilla, loquat, poncians, and hibiscus-trees. It was entered by a
gate, a tall gate of bamboo posts. At the gate all the followers fell
back to right and left, awe-struck. Only the chief went calmly on. He
beckoned to Felix and Muriel to follow him.

They entered, half terrified. Felix still grasped his open knife in his
hand, ready to strike at any moment that might be necessary. The chief
led them forward toward a very large tree near the centre of the garden.
At the foot of the tree stood a hut, somewhat bigger and better built
than any they had yet seen; and in front of the trunk a stalwart savage,
very powerfully built, but with a sinister look in his cruel and lustful
eye, was pacing up and down, like a sentinel on guard, a long spear in
his right hand, and a tomahawk in his left, held close by his side, all
ready for action. As he prowled up and down he seemed to be peering
warily about him on every side, as if each instant he expected to be set
upon by an enemy. But as the chief approached, the people without set up
once more the cry of "Taboo! Taboo!" and the stalwart savage by the tree,
laying down his spear and letting his tomahawk fall free, dropped in a
second the air of watchful alarm, and advanced with some courtesy to
greet the new-comers.

"We have found them, Tu-Kila-Kila," the chief said, presenting them to
the god with a graceful wave of his hand. "We have found the spirits that
you brought from the sun, with the fire in their hands, and the light in
boxes. We have taken them to Heaven. Heaven has accepted them. We have
offered them fruit, and they have eaten the banana. The King of the
Rain--the Queen of the Clouds! Korong! Receive them!"

Tu-Kila-Kila glanced at them with an approving glance, strangely
compounded of pleasure and terror. "They are plump," he said shortly.
"They are indeed Korong. My sun has