CHAPTER III
THE TEMPTATION
Two years have gone by all but a few months, and from the rectory in a
quiet English village we pass to a scene in Central, or South Central,
Africa.
On the brow of a grassy slope dotted over with mimosa thorns, and
close to a gushing stream of water, stands a house, or rather a hut,
built of green brick and thatched with grass. Behind this hut is a
fence of thorns, rough but strong, designed to protect all within it
from the attacks of lions and other beasts of prey. At present, save
for a solitary mule eating its provender by the wheel of a tented ox-
waggon, it is untenanted, for the cattle have not yet been kraaled for
the night. Presently Thomas Owen enters this enclosure by the back
door of the hut, and having attended to the mule, which whinnies at
the sight of him, goes to the gate and watches there till he sees his
native boys driving the cattle up the slope of the hill. At length
they arrive, and when he has counted them to make sure that none are
missing, and in a few kind words commended the herds for their
watchfulness, he walks to the front of the house and, seating himself
upon a wooden stool set under a mimosa tree that grows near the door,
he looks earnestly towards the west.
The man has changed somewhat since last we saw him. To begin with, he
has grown a beard, and although the hot African sun has bronzed it
into an appearance of health, his face is even thinner than it was,
and therein the great spiritual eyes shine still more strangely.
At the foot of the slope runs a wide river, just here broken into
rapids where the waters make an angry music. Beyond this river
stretches a vast plain bounded on the horizon by mountain ranges, each
line of them rising higher than the other till their topmost and more
distant peaks melt imperceptibly into the tender blue of the heavens.
This is the land of the Sons of Fire, and yonder amid the slopes of
the nearest hills is the great kraal of their king, Umsuka, whose
name, being interpreted, means The Thunderbolt.
In the very midst of the foaming rapids, and about a thousand yards
from the house lies a space of rippling shallow water, where, unless
it chances to be in flood, the river can be forded. It is this ford
that Owen watches so intently.
"John should have been back twelve hours ago," he mutters to himself.
"I pray that no harm has befallen him at the Great Place yonder."
Just then a tiny speck appears far away on the plain. It is a man
travelling towards the water at a swinging trot. Going into the hut,
Owen returns with a pair of field-glasses, and through them
scrutinises the figure of the man.
"Heaven be praised! It is John," he mutters, with a sigh of relief.
"Now, I wonder what answer he brings?"
Half an hour later John stands before him, a stalwart native of the
tribe of the Amasuka, the People of Fire, and with uplifted hand
salutes him, giving him titles of honour.
"Praise me not, John," said Owen; "praise God only, as I have taught
you to do. Tell me, have you seen the king, and what is his word?"
"Father," he answered, "I journeyed to the great town, as you bade me,
and I was admitted before the majesty of the king; yes, he received me
in the courtyard of the House of Women. With his guards, who stood at
a distance out of hearing, there were present three only; but oh!
those three were great, the greatest in all the land after the king.
They were Hafela, the king that is to come, the prince Nodwengo, his
brother, and Hokosa the terrible, the chief of the wizards; and I tell
you, father, that my blood dried up and my heart shrivelled when they
turned their eyes upon me, reading the thoughts of my heart."
"Have I not told you, John, to trust in God, and fear nothing at the
hands of man?"
"You told me, father, but still I feared," answered the messenger
humbly. "Yet, being bidden to it, I lifted my forehead from the dust
and stood upon my feet before the king, and delivered to him the
message which you set between my lips."
"Repeat the message, John."
"'O King,' I said, 'beneath those footfall the whole earth shakes,
whose arms stretch round the world and whose breath is the storm, I,
whose name is John, am sent by the white man whose name is Messenger'
--for by that title you bade me make you known--'who for a year has
dwelt in the land that your spears have wasted beyond the banks of the
river. These are the words which he spoke to me, O King, that I pass
on to you with my tongue: "To the King Umsuka, lord of the Amasuka,
the Sons of Fire, I, Messenger, who am the servant and the ambassador
of the King of Heaven, give greeting. A year ago, King, I sent to you
saying that the message which was brought by that white man whom you
drove from your land had reached the ears of Him whom I serve, the
High and Holy One, and that, speaking in my heart, He had commanded me
to take up the challenge of your message. Here am I, therefore, ready
to abide by the law which you have laid down; for if guile or lies be
found in me, then let me travel from your land across the bridge of
spears. Still, I would dwell a little while here where I am before I
pass into the shadow of your rule and speak in the ears of your people
as I have been bidden. Know, King, that first I would learn your
tongue, and therefore I demand that one of your people may be sent to
dwell with me and to teach me that tongue. King, you heard my words
and you sent me a man to dwell with me, and that man has taught me
your tongue, and I also have taught him, converting him to my faith
and giving him a new name, the name of John. King, now I seek your
leave to visit you, and to deliver into your ears the words with which
I, Messenger, am charged. I have spoken."'
"Thus I, John, addressed the great ones, my father, and they listened
in silence. When I had done they spoke together, a word here and a
word there. Then Hokosa, the king's mouth, answered me, telling the
thought of the king: 'You are a bold man, you whose name is John, but
who once had another name--you, my servant, who dare to appear before
me, and to make it known to me that you have been turned to a new
faith and serve another king than I. Yet because you are bold, I
forgive you. Go back now to that white man who is named Messenger and
who comes upon an embassy to me from the Lord of Heaven, and bid him
come in peace. Yet warn him once again that here also we know
something of the Powers that are not seen, here also we have our
wizards who draw wisdom from the air, who tame the thunderbolt and
compel the rain, and that he must show himself greater than all of
these if he would not pass hence by the bridge of spears. Let him,
therefore, take counsel with his heart and with Him he serves, if such
a One there is, and let him come or let him stay away as it shall
please him.'"
"So be it," said Owen; "the words of the king are good, and to-morrow
we will start for the Great Place."
John heard and assented, but without eagerness.
"My father," he said, in a doubtful and tentative voice, "would it not
perhaps be better to bide here awhile first?"
"Why?" asked Owen. "We have sown, and now is the hour to reap."
"It is so, my father, but as I ran hither, full of the king's words,
it came into my mind that now is not the time to convert the Sons of
Fire. There is trouble brewing at the Great Palace, father. Listen,
and I will tell you; as I have heard, so I will tell you. You know
well that our King Umsuka has two sons, Hafela and Nodwengo; and of
these Hafela is the heir-apparent, the fruit of the chief wife of the
king, and Nodwengo is sprung from another wife. Now Hafela is proud
and cruel, a warrior of warriors, a terrible man, and Nodwengo is
gentle and mild, like to his mother whom the king loves. Of late it
has been discovered that Hafela, weary of waiting for power, has made
a plot to depose his father and to kill Nodwengo, his brother, so that
the land and those who dwell in it may become his without question.
This plot the king knows--I had it from one of his women, who is my
sister--and he is very wroth, yet he dare do little, for he grows old
and timid, and seeks rest, not war. Yet he is minded, if he can find
the heart, to go back upon the law and to name Nodwengo as his heir
before all the army at the feast of the first-fruits, which shall be
held on the third day from to-night. This Hafela knows, and Nodwengo
knows it also, and each of them has summoned his following, numbering
thousands and tens of thousands of spears, to attend this feast of the
first-fruits. That feast may well be a feast of vultures, my father,
and when the brothers and their regiments rush together fighting for
the throne, what will chance to the white man who comes at such a
moment to preach a faith of peace, and to his servant, one John, who
led him there?"
"I do not know," answered Owen, "and it troubles me not at all. I go
to carry out my mission, and in this way or in that it will be carried
out. John, if you are fearful or unbelieving leave me to go alone."
"Nay, father, I am not fearful; yet, father, I would have you
understand. Yonder there are men who can work wizardry. /Wow!/ I know,
for I have seen it, and they will demand from you magic greater than
their magic."
"What of it, John?"
"Only this, my father, that if they ask and you fail to give, they
will kill you. You teach beautiful things, but say, are you a wizard?
When the child of a woman yonder lay dead, you could not raise it as
did the Christ; when the oxen were sick with the pest, you could not
cure them; or at least, my father, you did not, although you wept for
the child and were sorry at the loss of the oxen. Now, my father, if
perchance they ask you to do such things as these yonder, or die, say
what will happen?"
"One of two things, John: either I shall die or I shall do the
things."
"But"--hesitated John--"surely you do not believe that----" and he
broke off.
Owen turned round and looked at his disciple with kindling eyes. "I do
believe, O you of little faith!" he said. "I do believe that yonder I
have a mission, and that He Whom I serve will give me power to carry
out that mission. You are right, I can work no miracles; but He can
work miracles Whom everything in heaven and earth obeys, and if there
is need He will work them through me, His instrument. Or perhaps He
will not work them, and I shall die, because thus His ends will best
be forwarded. At the least I go in faith, fearing nothing, for what
has he to fear who knows the will of God and does it? But to you who
doubt, I say--leave me!"
The man spread out his hands in deprecation; his thick lips trembled a
little, and something like a tear appeared at the corners of his eyes.
"Father," he said, "am I a coward that you should talk to me thus? I,
who for twenty years have been a soldier of my king and for ten a
captain in my regiment? These scars show whether or no I am a coward,"
and he pointed to his breast, "but of them I will not speak. I am no
coward, else I had not gone upon that errand of yours. Why, then,
should you reproach me because my ears are not so open as yours, as my
heart has not understanding? I worship that God of Whom you have
taught me, but He never speaks to me as He does to you. I never meet
Him as I walk at night; He leaves me quite alone. Therefore it is that
I fear that when the hour of trial comes He may desert you; and unless
He covers you with His shield, of this I am sure, that the spear is
forged which shall blush red in your heart, my father. It is for you
that I fear, who are so gentle and tender; not for myself, who am well
accustomed to look in the eyes of Death, and who expect no more than
death."
"Forgive me," said Owen hastily, for he was moved; "and be sure that
the shield will be over us till the time comes for us to pass whither
we shall need none."
*****
That night Owen rose from the task at which he was labouring slowly
and painfully--a translation of passages from the Gospel of St. John
into the language of the Amasuka--and going to the open window-place
of the hut, he rested his elbows upon it and thought, staring with
empty eyes into the blackness of the night. Now it was as he sat thus
that a great agony of doubt took possession of his soul. The strength
which hitherto had supported him seemed to be withdrawn, and he was
left, as John had said, "quite alone." Strange voices seemed to
whisper in his ears, reproaching and reviling him; temptations long
ago trampled under foot rose again in might, alluring him.
"Fool," said the voices, "get you hence before it is too late. You
have been mad; you who dreamed that for your sake, to satisfy your
pride, the Almighty will break His silence and strain His law. Are you
then better, or greater, or purer than millions who have gone before
you, that for you and you alone this thing should be done? Why, were
it not that you are mad, you would be among the chief of sinners; you
who dare to ask that the Powers of Heaven should be set within your
feeble hand, that the Angels of Heaven should wait upon your mortal
breath. Worm that you are, has God need of such as you? If it is His
will to turn the heart of yonder people He will do it, but not by
means of /you/. You and the servant whom you are deluding to his death
will perish miserably, and this alone shall be the fruit of your
presumptuous sin. Get you back out of this wilderness before the
madness takes you afresh. You are still young, you have wealth; look
where She stands yonder whom you desire. Get you back, and forget your
folly in her arms."
These thoughts, and many others of like nature, tore Owen's soul in
that hour of strange and terrible temptation. He seemed to see himself
standing before the thousands of the savage nation he went to save,
and to hear the mocking voices of their witch-finders commanding him,
if he were a true man and the servant of that God of Whom he prated,
to give them a sign, only a little sign; perhaps to move a stone
without touching it with his hand, or to cause a dead bough to
blossom.
Then he would beseech Heaven with frantic prayers, and in vain, till
at length, amidst a roar of laughter, he, the false prophet and the
liar, was led out to his doom. He saw the piteous wondering look of
the believer whom he had betrayed to death; he saw the fierce faces
and the spears on high. Seeing all this his spirit broke, and, just as
the little clock in the room behind him struck the first stroke of
midnight, with a great and bitter cry to God to give him back the
faith and strength that he had lost, Owen's head fell forward and he
sank into a swoon there upon the window-place.
