CHAPTER IX
THE CRISIS
Now, day by day for something over a month Owen preached the Gospel
before the king, his councillors, and hundreds of the head men of the
nation. They listened to him attentively, debating the new doctrine
point by point; for although they might be savages, these people were
very keen-witted and subtle. Very patiently did Owen sow, and at
length to his infinite joy he also gathered in his first-fruit. One
night as he sat in his hut labouring as usual at the work of
translation, wherein he was assisted by John whom he had taught to
read and write, the Prince Nodwengo entered and greeted him. For a
while he sat silent watching the white man at his task, then he
said:--
"Messenger, I have a boon to ask of you. Can you teach me to
understand those signs which you set upon the paper, and to make them
also as does John your servant?"
"Certainly," answered Owen; "if you will come to me at noon to-morrow,
we will begin."
The prince thanked him, but he did not go away. Indeed, from his
manner Owen guessed that he had something more upon his mind. At
length it came out.
"Messenger," he said, "you have told us of baptism whereby we are
admitted into the army of your King; say, have you the power of this
rite?"
"I have."
"And is your servant here baptised?"
"He is."
"Then if he who is a common man can be baptised, why may not I who am
a prince?"
"In baptism," answered Owen, "there is no distinction between the
highest and the lowest; but if you believe, then the door is open and
through it you can join the company of Heaven."
"Messenger, I do believe," answered the prince humbly.
Then Owen was very joyful, and that same night, with John for a
witness, he baptised the prince, giving him the new name of
Constantine, after the first Christian emperor.
On the following day Nodwengo, in the presence of Owen, who on this
point would suffer no concealment, announced to the king that he had
become a Christian. Umsuka heard, and for a while sat silent. Then he
said in a troubled voice:--
"Truly, Messenger, in the words of that Book from which you read to
us, I fear that you have come hither to bring, 'not peace but a
sword.' Now when the witch-doctors and the priests of fire learn this,
that he whom I have chosen to succeed me has become the servant of
another faith, they will stir up the soldiers and there will be civil
war. I pray you, therefore, keep the matter secret, at any rate for a
while, seeing that the lives of many are at stake."
"In this, my father," answered the prince, "I must do as the Messenger
bids me; but if you desire it, take from me the right of succession
and call back my brother from the northern mountains."
"That by poison or the spear he may put all of us to death, Nodwengo!
Be not afraid; ere long when he learns all that is happening here,
your brother Hafela will come from the northern mountains, and the
spears of his /impis/ shall be countless as the stars of the sky.
Messenger, you desire to draw us to the arms of your God--and myself,
I am at times minded to follow the path of my son Nodwengo and seek a
refuge there--but say, will they be strong enough to protect us from
Hafela and the warriors of the north? Already he gathers his clans,
and already my captains desert to him. By-and-by, in the spring-time--
may I be dead before the day--he will roll down upon us like a flood
of water----"
"To fall back like waters from a wall of rock," answered Owen. "'Let
not your heart be troubled,' for my Master can protect His servants,
and He will protect you. But first you must confess Him openly, as
your son has done."
"Nay, I am too old to hurry," said the king with a sigh. "Your tale
seems full of promise to one who is near the grave; but how can I know
that it is more than a dream? And shall I abandon the worship of my
fathers and change, or strive to change, the customs of my people to
follow after dreams? Nodwengo has chosen his part, and I do not blame
him; yet, for the present I beseech you both to keep silence on this
matter, lest to save bloodshed I should be driven to side against
you."
"So be it, King," said Owen; "but I warn you that Truth has a loud
voice, and that it is hard to hide the shining of a light in a dark
place, nor does it please my Lord to be denied by those who confess
Him."
"I am weary," replied the old king, and they saluted him and went.
In obedience to the wish of Umsuka his father, the conversion of
Nodwengo was kept secret, and yet--none knew how--the thing leaked
out. Soon the women in their huts, and the soldiers by their watch-
fires, whispered it in each other's ears that he who was appointed to
be their future ruler had become a servant of the unknown God. That he
had forsworn war and all the delights of men; that he would take but
one wife and appear before the army, not in the uniform of a general,
but clad in a white robe, and carry, not the broad spear, but a cross
of wood. Swiftly the strange story flew from mouth to mouth, yet it
was not altogether believed till it chanced that one day when he was
reviewing a regiment, a soldier who was drunk with beer openly
insulted the prince, calling him "a coward who worshipped a coward."
Now men held their breaths, waiting to see this fool led away to die
by torture of the ant-heap or some other dreadful doom. But the prince
only answered:
"Soldier, you are drunk, therefore I forgive you your words. Whether
He Whom you blaspheme will forgive you, I know not. Get you gone!"
The warriors stared and murmured, for by those words, wittingly or
unwittingly, their general had confessed his faith, and that day they
made ribald songs about him in the camp. But on the morrow when they
learned how that the man whom the prince spared had been seized by a
lion and taken away as he sat at night with his companions in the
bivouac, his mouth full of boasting of his own courage in offering
insult to the prince and the new faith, then they looked at each other
askance and said little more of the matter. Doubtless it was chance,
and yet this Spirit Whom the Messenger preached was one of Whom it
seemed wisest not to speak lightly.
But still the trouble grew, for by now the witch-doctors, with Hokosa
at the head of them, were frightened for their place and power, and
fomented it both openly and in secret. Of the women they asked what
would become of them when men were allowed to take but one wife? Of
the heads of kraals, how they would grow wealthy when their daughters
ceased to be worth cattle? Of the councillors and generals, how the
land could be protected from its foes when they were commanded to lay
down the spear? Of the soldiers, whose only trade was war, how it
would please them to till the fields like girls? Dismay took hold of
the nation, and although they were much loved, there was open talk of
killing or driving away the king and Nodwengo who favoured the white
man, and of setting up Hafela in their place.
At length the crisis came, and in this fashion. The Amasuka, like many
other African tribes, had a strange veneration for certain varieties
of snakes which they declared to be possessed by the spirits of their
ancestors. It was a law among them that if one of these snakes entered
a kraal it must not be killed, or even driven away, under pain of
death, but must be allowed to share with the human occupants any hut
that it might select. As a result of this enforced hospitality deaths
from snake-bite were numerous among the people; but when they happened
in a kraal its owners met with little sympathy, for the doctors
explained that the real cause of them was the anger of some ancestral
spirit towards his descendants. Now, before John was despatched to
instruct Owen in the language of the Amasuka a certain girl was sealed
to him as his future wife, and this girl, who during his absence had
been orphaned, he had married recently with the approval of Owen, who
at this time was preparing her for baptism. On the third morning after
his marriage John appeared before his master in the last extremity of
grief and terror.
"Help me, Messenger!" he cried, "for my ancestral spirit has entered
our hut and bitten my wife as she lay asleep."
"Are you mad?" asked Owen. "What is an ancestral spirit, and how can
it have bitten your wife?"
"A snake," gasped John, "a green snake of the worst sort."
Then Owen remembered the superstition, and snatching blue-stone and
spirits of wine from his medicine chest, he rushed to John's hut. As
it happened, he was fortunately in time with his remedies and
succeeded in saving the woman's life, whereby his reputation as a
doctor and a magician, already great, was considerably enlarged.
"Where is the snake?" he asked when at length she was out of danger.
"Yonder, under the kaross," answered John, pointing to a skin rug
which lay in the corner.
"Have you killed it?"
"No, Messenger," answered the man, "I dare not. Alas! we must live
with the thing here in the hut till it chooses to go away."
"Truly," said Owen, "I am ashamed to think that you who are a
Christian should still believe so horrible a superstition. Does your
faith teach you that the souls of men enter into snakes?"
Now John hung his head; then snatching a kerry, he threw aside the
kaross, revealing a great green serpent seven or eight feet long. With
fury he fell upon the reptile, killed it by repeated blows, and hurled
it into the courtyard outside the house.
"Behold, father," he said, "and judge whether I am still
superstitious." Then his countenance fell and he added: "Yet my life
must pay for this deed, for it is an ancient law among us that to harm
one of these snakes is death."
"Have no fear," said Owen, "a way will be found out of this trouble."
That afternoon Owen heard a great hubbub outside his kraal, and going
to see what was the matter, he found a party of the witch-doctors
dragging John towards the place of judgment, which was by the king's
house. Thither he followed to discover that the case was already in
course of being opened before the king, his council, and a vast
audience of the people. Hokosa was the accuser. In brief and pregnant
sentences, producing the dead snake in proof of his argument, he
pointed out the enormity of the offence against the laws of the
Amasuka wherewith the prisoner was charged, demanding that the man who
had killed the house of his ancestral spirit should instantly be put
to death.
"What have you to say?" asked the king of John.
"This, O King," replied John, "that I am a Christian, and to me that
snake is nothing but a noxious reptile. It bit my wife, and had it not
been for the medicine of the Messenger, she would have perished of the
poison. Therefore I killed it before it could harm others."
"It is a fair answer," said the king. "Hokosa, I think that this man
should go free."
"The king's will is the law," replied Hokosa bitterly; "but if the law
were the king's will, the decision would be otherwise. This man has
slain, not a snake, but that which held the spirit of an ancestor, and
for the deed he deserves to die. Hearken, O King, for the business is
larger than it seems. How are we to be governed henceforth? Are we to
follow our ancient rules and customs, or must we submit ourselves to a
new rule and a new custom? I tell you, O King, that the people murmur;
they are without light, they wander in the darkness, they cannot
understand. Play with us no more, but let us hear the truth that we
may judge of this matter."
Umsuka looked at Owen, but made no reply.
"I will answer you, Hokosa," said Owen, "for I am the spring of all
this trouble, and at my command that man, my disciple, killed yonder
snake. What is it? It is nothing but a reptile; no human spirit ever
dwelt within it as you imagine in your superstition. You ask to hear
the truth; day by day I have preached it in your ears and you have not
listened, though many among you have listened and understood. What is
it that you seek?"
"We seek, Messenger, to be rid of you, your fantasies and your
religion; and we demand that our king should expel you and restore the
ancient laws, or failing this, that you should prove your power openly
before us all. Your word, O King!"
Umsuka thought for a while and answered:--
"This is my word, Hokosa: I will not drive the Messenger from the
land, for he is a good man; he saved my life, and there is virtue in
his teaching, towards which I myself incline. Yet it is just that he
should be asked to prove his power, so that an end may be put to doubt
and all of us may learn what god we are to worship."
"How can I prove my power," asked Owen, "further than I have proved it
already? Does Hokosa desire to set up his god against my God--the
false against the true?"
"I do," answered the wizard with passion, "and according to the issue
let the judgment be. Let us halt no longer between two opinions, let
us become wholly Christian or rest wholly heathen, for to be divided
is to be destroyed. The magic of the Messenger is great; once and for
all let us learn if it is more than our magic. Let us put him and his
doctrines to the trial by fire."
"What is the trial by fire?" asked Owen.
"You have seen something of it, White Man, but not much. This is the
trial by fire: to stand yonder before the face of the god of thunder
when a great tempest rages--not such a storm as you saw, but a storm
that splits the heavens--and to come thence unscathed. Listen: I who
am a 'heaven-herd,' I who know the signs of the weather, tell you that
within two days such a tempest as this will break upon us. Then White
Man, I and my companions will be ready to meet you on the plain. Take
the cross by which you swear and set it up yonder and stand by it, and
with you your converts, Nodwengo the prince, and this man whom you
have named John, if they dare to go. Over against you, around the
symbol of the god by which we swear, will stand I and my company, and
we will pray our god and you shall pray your God. Then the storm will
break upon us, and when it is ended we shall learn which of us remain
alive. If you and your cross are shattered, to us will be the victory;
if we are laid low, take it for your own. Your judgment, King!"
Again Umsuka thought and answered:--
"So be it. Messenger, hear me. There is no need for you to accept this
challenge; but if you will not accept it, then go from my country in
peace, taking with you those who cleave to you. If on the other hand
you do accept it, these shall be the stakes: that if you pass the
trial unharmed, and the fire-doctors are swept away, your creed shall
be my creed and the creed of the land; but if the fire-doctors prevail
against you, then it shall be death or banishment to any who profess
that creed. Now choose!"
"I have chosen," said Owen. "I will meet Hokosa and his company on the
Place of fire whenever he may appoint, but for the others I cannot
say."
"We will come with you," said Nodwengo and John, with one voice;
"where you go, Messenger, we will surely follow."
