In doing thus, he taketh the old god's life and soul, which thereupon migrates and dwells within him.

And by this tenure--may Heaven be merciful to me, a sinner--do I, Nathaniel Cross, of the county of Doorham, now hold this dignity of Too-Keela-Keela, having slain, therefor, in just quarrel, my antecessor in the high godship." As he reached these words Methuselah paused, and choked in his throat slightly.

The mere mechanical effort of continuing the speech he had learned by heart two hundred years before, and repeated so often since that it had become part of his being, was now almost too much for him.
The Frenchman was right.

They were only just in time.

A few days later, and the secret would have died with the bird that preserved it..