"Well," said Sir Henry, "I suppose we had better risk it."
I acquiesced, though doubtfully, for eclipses are queer cattle to deal with—it might be a cloudy night, for instance—and sent Umbopa to summon the chiefs back. Presently they came, and I addressed them thus—
"Great men of the Kukuanas, and thou, Infadoos, listen. We love not to show our powers, for to do so is to interfere with the course of nature, and plunge the world into fear and confusion. But since this matter is a great one, and as we are angered against the king because of the slaughter we have seen, and because of the act of the Isanusi Gagool, who would have put our friend Ignosi to death, we have determined to break the rule, and to give such a sign that all men may see. Come hither;" and I led them to the door of the hut and pointed to the red ball of the fading moon. "What see ye there?"
"We see the dying moon," answered the spokesman of the party.
"It is so. Now tell me, can any mortal man put out that moon before her hour of setting, and bring the curtain of black night down on to the land?"
The chief laughed a little. "No, my lord, that no man can do. The moon is stronger than man who looks on her, nor can she vary in her courses."
"Ye say so. Yet I tell you that to-morrow night, two hours before midnight, will we cause the moon to be eaten up for the space of an hour and half an hour. Yes, deep darkness shall cover the earth, and it shall be for a sign that Ignosi is indeed king of the Kukuanas. If we do this thing will ye be satisfied?"
"Yea, my lords," answered the old chief with a smile,
