"Has Ru the Sparrow-Hearted eaten?" rang out the thunderous words of Grumgra. "If so, let him come here, that he may tell us where he has been! Come, let him tell us where he has been!"
"I shall tell you everything!" Ru shouted his reply, in tones that sounded like a challenge. And he arose and strode toward the fire and seated himself calmly in the light, while the people stationed themselves in a chattering circle about him, and Grumgra, grasping his inseparable club, crouched sullenly almost within arm's reach.
"Remember," muttered the chieftain, by way of final admonition, "you must speak truth! You must speak truth! If you do not—" Here he lifted his club, and sat glaring at Ru threateningly, but no further words were forthcoming.
"Why should I not speak truth?" demanded Ru.
Grumgra still maintained a morose silence, and Ru continued: "I have done deeds so strange they may not sound like truth, but that is not my fault. Even I would not believe them to be truth, if I did not know they had happened. You remember how once Woonoo and Kuff saw me sink in the water, and I was drowned and did wonderful things for the wind-god and then came back to you once more. I thought that would be the last time I would ever die and come back to you—but it was not so. Once more I have died, and this time the god of the cave has given me back my life."
Ru paused, and an awed silence held the audience.
He was about to continue when Grumgra, apparently less impressed than the others, burst into a snarling "You lie! You were not dead, Sparrow-Hearted! You ran away, and now you tell us foolish stories!"
"May the cave-god show you that I speak truth!" swore Ru, lifting his hands appealingly to the blackened ceiling. "May the cave-god strike me down if I lie!"
But the cave-god did not strike Ru down; and the spectators, after waiting horror-stricken for a blast of lightning, seemed already half convinced.
"You remember, my people," Ru continued, after he had allowed time to make his appeal effective, "that you saw me go into the other cave down the river, and that I did not come out. Now suddenly you see me in this cave. And I do not come from outside, but from deep down in it. How does this come to be, my people?"