"Haggard, H Rider- The Wizard" - читать интересную книгу автора (Haggard H. Rider)

This is the land of the Sons of Fire, and yonder amid the slopes of
the nearest hills is the great kraal of their king, Umsuka, whose
name, being interpreted, means The Thunderbolt.

In the very midst of the foaming rapids, and about a thousand yards
from the house lies a space of rippling shallow water, where, unless
it chances to be in flood, the river can be forded. It is this ford
that Owen watches so intently.

"John should have been back twelve hours ago," he mutters to himself.
"I pray that no harm has befallen him at the Great Place yonder."

Just then a tiny speck appears far away on the plain. It is a man
travelling towards the water at a swinging trot. Going into the hut,
Owen returns with a pair of field-glasses, and through them
scrutinises the figure of the man.

"Heaven be praised! It is John," he mutters, with a sigh of relief.
"Now, I wonder what answer he brings?"

Half an hour later John stands before him, a stalwart native of the
tribe of the Amasuka, the People of Fire, and with uplifted hand
salutes him, giving him titles of honour.

"Praise me not, John," said Owen; "praise God only, as I have taught
you to do. Tell me, have you seen the king, and what is his word?"

"Father," he answered, "I journeyed to the great town, as you bade me,
and I was admitted before the majesty of the king; yes, he received me
in the courtyard of the House of Women. With his guards, who stood at
a distance out of hearing, there were present three only; but oh!
those three were great, the greatest in all the land after the king.
They were Hafela, the king that is to come, the prince Nodwengo, his
brother, and Hokosa the terrible, the chief of the wizards; and I tell
you, father, that my blood dried up and my heart shrivelled when they
turned their eyes upon me, reading the thoughts of my heart."

"Have I not told you, John, to trust in God, and fear nothing at the
hands of man?"

"You told me, father, but still I feared," answered the messenger
humbly. "Yet, being bidden to it, I lifted my forehead from the dust
and stood upon my feet before the king, and delivered to him the
message which you set between my lips."

"Repeat the message, John."

"'O King,' I said, 'beneath those footfall the whole earth shakes,
whose arms stretch round the world and whose breath is the storm, I,
whose name is John, am sent by the white man whose name is Messenger'