You shall throw yourself upon the ground and shriek in terror, and then they will lick you up and you shall be no more, and there will be an end of you and the symbol of your God." "Cease your boastings," said the king shortly, "and get you back to your place, knowing that if it should chance that the white man conquers you will be called upon to answer for these words." "We shall be ready, O King," they cried; and amidst the cheers of the vast audience they marched back to their station, still singing the blasphemous mocking song.
Now to the west all the heavens were black as night, though the eastern sky still showed blue and cloudless.

Nature lay oppressed with silence--silence intense and unnatural; and so great was the heat that the air danced visibly above the ironstone as it dances about a glowing stove.

Suddenly the quietude was broken by a moaning sound of wind; the grass stirred, the leaves of the trees began to shiver, and an icy breath beat upon Owen's brow.
"Let us be going," he said, and lifting the ivory crucifix above his head, he passed the stream and walked towards the wooden cross.

After him came the Prince Nodwengo, wearing his royal dress of leopard skin, and after him, John, arrayed in a linen robe.
As the little procession appeared to their view some of the soldiers began to mock, but almost instantly the laughter died away.

Rude as they were, these savages understood that here was no occasion for their mirth, that the three men indeed seemed clothed with a curious dignity.
Perhaps it was their slow and quiet gait, perhaps a sense of the errand upon which they were bound; or it may have been the strange unearthly light that fell upon them from over the edge of the storm cloud; at the least, as the multitude became aware, their appearance was impressive.
They reached the cross and took up their stations there, Owen in front of it, Nodwengo to the right, and John to the left.
Now a sharp squall of strong wind swept across the space, and with it came a flaw of rain.