The woman slipped away secretly. When she had gone Hokosa bade hiswife bring the basket of fruit into the hut.

　　"It is best that the butcher should kill the ox himself," she answeredmeaningly.

　　He carried in the basket and set it on the floor.

　　"Why do you speak thus, Noma?" he asked.

　　"Because I will have no hand in the matter, Hokosa. I have been thetool of a wizard, and won little joy therefrom. The tool of a murdererI will not be!""If I kill, it is for the sake of both of us," he said passionately.

　　"It may be so, Hokosa, or for the sake of the people, or for the sakeof Heaven above--I do not know and do not care; but I say, do your ownkilling, for I am sure that even less luck will hang to it than hangsto your witchcraft.""Of all women you are the most perverse!" he said, stamping his footupon the ground.

　　"Thus you may say again before everything is done, husband; but if itbe so, why do you love me and tie me to you with your wizardry? Cutthe knot, and let me go my way while you go yours.""Woman, I cannot; but still I bid you beware, for, strive as you will,my path must be your path. Moreover, till I free you, you cannot liftvoice or hand against me."Then, while she watched him curiously, Hokosa fetched his medicinesand took from them some powder fine as dust and two tiny crowquills.

　　Placing a fruit before him, he inserted one of these quills into itssubstance, and filling the second with the powder, he shook itscontents into it and withdrew the tube. This process he repeated fourtimes on each of the fruits, replacing them one by one in the basket.

　　So deftly did he work upon them, that however closely they werescanned none could guess that they had been tampered with.

　　"Will it kill at once?" asked Noma.

　　"No, indeed; but he who eats these fruits will be seized on the thirdday with dysentery and fever, and these will cling to him till withinseven weeks--or if he is very strong, three months--he dies. This isthe best of poisons, for it works through nature and can be traced bynone.""Except, perchance, by that Spirit Whom the white man worships, andWho also works through nature, as you learned, Hokosa, when He rolledthe lightning back upon your head, shattering your god and beatingdown your company."Then of a sudden terror seized the wizard, and springing to his feet,he cursed his wife till she trembled before him.

　　"Vile woman, and double-faced!" he said, "why do you push me forwardwith one hand and with the other drag me back? Why do you whisper evilcounsel into one ear and into the other prophesy of misfortunes tocome? Had it not been for you, I should have let this business lie; Ishould have taken my fate and been content. But day by day you havetaunted me with my fall and grieved over the greatness that you havelost, till at length you have driven me to this. Why cannot you be allgood or all wicked, or at the least, through righteousness and sin,faithful to my interest and your own?""Because I hate you, Hokosa, and yet can strike you only through mytongue and your mad love for me. I am fast in your power, but thus atleast I can make you feel something of my own pain. Hark! I hear thatwoman at the gate. Will you give her back the basket, or will you not?

　　Whatever you may choose to do, do not say in after days that I urgedyou to the deed.""Truly you are great-hearted!" he answered, with cold contempt; "onefor whom I did well to enter into treachery and sin! So be it: havinggone so far upon it, come what may, I will not turn back from thisjourney. Let in that fool!"Presently the woman stood before them, bearing with her another basketof fruit.

　　"These are what you seek, Master," she said, "though I was forced towin them by theft. Now give me my own and the medicine and let me go."He gave her the basket, and with it, wrapped in a piece of kidskin,some of the same powder with which he had doctored the fruits.

　　"What shall I do with this?" she asked.

　　"You must find means to sprinkle it upon your sister's food, andthereafter your husband shall come to hate even the sight of her.""But will he come to love me again?"Hokosa shrugged his shoulders.

　　"I know not," he answered; "that is for you to see to. Yet this issure, that if a tree grows up before the house of a man, shutting itoff from the sunlight, when that tree is cut down the sun shines uponhis house again.""It is nothing to the sun on what he shines," said the woman.

　　"If the saying does not please you, then forget it. I promise you thisand no more, that very soon the man shall cease to turn to yourrival.""The medicine will not harm her?" asked the woman doubtfully. "She hasworked me bitter wrong indeed, yet she is my sister, whom I nursedwhen she was little, and I do not wish to do her hurt. If only he willwelcome me back and treat me kindly, I am willing even that she shoulddwell on beneath my husband's roof, bearing his children, for willthey not be of my own blood?""Woman," answered Hokosa impatiently, "you weary me with your talk.

　　Did I say that the charm would hurt her? I said that it would causeyour husband to hate the sight of her. Now begone, taking or leavingit, and let me rest. If your mind is troubled, throw aside thatmedicine, and go soothe it with such sights as you saw last night."On hearing this the woman sprang up, hid away the poison in her hair,and taking her basket of fruit, passed from the kraal as secretly asshe had entered it.

　　"Why did you give her death-medicine?" asked Noma of Hokosa, as hestood staring after her. "Have you a hate to satisfy against thehusband or the girl who is her rival?""None," he answered, "for they have never crossed my path. Oh, foolishwoman! cannot you read my plan?""Not altogether, Husband.""Listen then: this woman will give to her sister a medicine of whichin the end she must die. She may be discovered or she may not, but itis certain that she will be suspected, seeing that the bitterness ofthe quarrel between them is known. Also she will give to the Messengercertain fruits, after eating of which he will be taken sick and in duetime die, of just such a disease as that which carries off the woman'srival. Now, if any think that he is poisoned, which I trust none will,whom will they suppose to have poisoned him, though indeed they cannever prove the crime?""The plan is clever," said Noma with admiration, "but in it I see aflaw. The woman will say that she had the drug from you, or, at theleast, will babble of her visit to you.""Not so," answered Hokosa, "for on this matter the greatest talker inthe world would keep silence. Firstly, she, being a Christian, darenot own that she has visited a witch-doctor. Secondly, the fruit shebrought in payment was stolen, therefore she will say nothing of it.

　　Thirdly, to admit that she had medicine from me would be to admit herguilt, and that she will scarcely do even under torture, which by thenew law it is not lawful to apply. Moreover, none saw her come here,and I should deny her visit.""The plan is very clever............