“Well, jewilikins! this caps the climax!” he exclaimed, while the people fell on their faces and wriggled about on the ground.
CHAPTER XVII.
THE RAINMAKER.
It was some time before Madcap Max could realize just where he was, and the significance of the demonstration of which he was the recipient.
But when once his mind got a clew, he quickly followed it up, and with the natural smartness of his Yankee ancestry, saw the advantages of his position.
He very carefully abstained from uttering a word.
The silence impressed the Gondos with awe.
They were more than ever convinced that he was a messenger from the mysterious powers which they, in their ignorance, worshiped.
The Gondos had a religious belief almost akin to that of the ancient Scandinavians.
They believed that the thunder was the angry voice of the storm god, that a deity presided over everything in nature, and that the entrance to the home of the most powerful of these deities was through the mysterious volcanoes which at times emitted vast columns of molten lava and made the waters of the rivers so hot that no one could bathe in them and live.
Having this belief, it was no wonder that they thought Max and Ibrahim were sent by the presiding deity.