CHAPTER VIII

THE FIRST TRIAL BY FIRE

On the following day, while Owen sat eating his morning meal with a thankful heart, a messenger arrived saying that the king would receive him whenever it pleased him to come. He answered that he would be with him before noon, for already he had learned that among natives one loses little by delay. A great man, they think, is rich in time, and hurries only to wait upon his superiors.

At the appointed hour a guard came to lead him to the royal house, and thither Owen went, followed by John bearing a Bible. Umsuka was seated beneath a reed roof supported by poles and open on all sides; behind him stood councillors and attendants, and by him were Nodwengo the prince, and Hokosa, his mouth and prophet. Although the day was hot, he wore a kaross or rug of wild catskins, and his face showed that the effects of the poisoned draught were still upon him. At the approach of Owen he rose with something of an effort, and, shaking him by the hand, thanked him for his life, calling him "doctor of doctors."

"Tell me, Messenger," he added, "how it was that you were able to cure me, and who were in the plot to kill me? There must have been more than one," and he rolled his eyes round with angry suspicion.

"King," answered Owen, "if I knew anything of this matter, the Power that wrote it on my mind has wiped it out again, or, at the least, has forbidden me to speak of its secret. I saved you, it is enough; for the rest, the past is the past, and I come to deal with the present and the future."

Answer this series of questions:

1. Who did Owen save?
2. What does he want Owen to tell him?
3. Does Owen tell him?
4. Why not?
5. What does he want to focus on?
6. What should be forgotten?
7. What was Owen doing when he got a message?
8. What time of day was it?
9. How did he get the message?
10. When does the king want to see him?
11. When did he decide to go?
12. Why would someone rush around?
13. What makes someone wealthy?
14. Where was the meeting held?
15. Did he find the way himself?
16. How then?
17. What kind of weather were they having?
18. What is the king's name?
19. What made him sick?
20. How does he refer to Owen?
1. the King
2. how he cured him
3. no
4. it was wiped out of his mind
5. the present and the future
6. the past
7. eating
8. morning
9. from a messenger
10. whenever it pleased him
11. before noon
12. to wait upon his superiors
13. time
14. the royal house
15. no
16. a guard lead him
17. hot
18. Umsuka
19. poison
20. as doctor of doctors