“I obey,” said Hokosa, “although I have brought no medicines with me. Perhaps,” he added with a faint sneer, “the white man, who is so great a wizard, will not be afraid to accompany me.”
Now Owen saw that all those present were looking at him curiously. It was evident they believed that he would not dare to accept the challenge. Therefore he answered at once and without hesitation:—
“Certainly I will come; the pole is heavy for one man to carry, and where Hokosa goes, there I can go also.”
“Nay, nay, Messenger,” said the king, “the lightning knows Hokosa and will turn from him, but you are a stranger to it and it will eat you up.”
“King,” answered Owen, “I do not believe that Hokosa has any power over the lightning. It may strike him or it may strike me; but unless my God so commands, it will strike neither of us.”
“On your head be it, White Man,” said Hokosa, with cold anger. “Come, aid me with the pole.”
Then they lifted the dead tree, and between them carried it into the middle of the plain, where they set it up in a crevice of the rock. By this time the storm was almost over them, and watching it Owen perceived that the lightnings struck always along the bank of the stream, doubtless following a hidden line of the bed of ironstone.
“It is but a very little storm,” said Hokosa contemptuously, “such as visit us almost every afternoon at this period of the year. Ah! White Man, I would that you could see one of our great tempests, for these are worth beholding. This I fear, however, that you will never do, seeing it is likely that within some few minutes you will have passed back to that King who sent you here, with a hole in your head and a black mark down your spine.”
“That we shall learn presently, Hokosa,” answered Owen; “for my part, I pray that no such fate may overtake you.”
Now Hokosa moved himself away, muttering and pointing with his fingers, but Owen remained standing within about thirty yards of the pole. Suddenly there came a glare of light, and the pole was split into fragments; but although the shock was perceptible, they remained unhurt. Almost immediately a second flash leaped from the cloud, and Owen saw Hokosa stagger and fall to his knees. “The man is struck,” he thought to himself, but it was not so, for recovering his balance, the wizard walked back to the stream.