All the way home he had been obliged to conceal it, and disguise the pain he felt, lest Fire and Water should discover his secret.

For he dared not let his people know that the Soul of all dead parrots had bitten his finger, and drawn blood from the sacred veins of the man-god.

But he almost hesitated now whether or not he should confide in Ula.

A god may surely trust his own wedded wives.

And yet--such need to be careful--women are so treacherous! He suspected Ula sometimes of being a great deal too fond of that young man Toko, who used to be one of the temple attendants, and whom he had given as Shadow accordingly to the King of the Rain, so as to get rid of him altogether from among the crowd of his followers.