All
the people will hold you with forked sticks, while the Korong burns you
alive slowly, limb by limb, with me, who am Fire, the fierce, the
consuming. I will scorch you and bake you till you are as a bamboo in the
flame. Taboo! Taboo! Taboo! I, Fire, have said it."
The King of Water, with three attendants, forced Tu-Kila-Kila on one
side for a moment. Ula stood by and smiled pleased compliance. A temple
slave, trembling all over at this conflict of the gods, brought out a
calabash full of white coral-sand. The King of Water spat on it and
blessed it. By this time a dozen natives, at least, had assembled outside
the taboo-line, and stood eagerly watching the result of the combat. The
temple slave made a long white mark with the coral-sand on one side of
the cleared area. Then he handed the calabash solemnly to Toko. Toko
crossed the sacred precinct with a few inaudible words of muttered charm,
to save the Taboo, as prescribed in the mysteries. Then he drew a similar
line on the ground on his side, some twenty yards off. "Descend, O my
lord!" he cried to Felix; and Felix, still holding the bough tight in his
hand, swung himself blindly from the tree, and took his place by Toko.
"Toe the line!" Toko cried, and Felix toed it.
"Bring up your god!" the Shadow called out aloud to the King of Water.
And the King of Water, using no special ceremony with so great a duty,
dragged Tu-Kila-Kila helplessly along with him to the farther taboo-line.
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