V
MANY SLEEPS had passed since Pu came to Tanga-tanga, but neither David Innes nor O-aa had been able to concoct any scheme whereby they might escape. The temple guard was composed entirely of warriors handpicked by Furp; and as far as David Innes and O-aa were concerned, these guardsmen were their jailers.
Furp was convinced that they were just ordinary mortals who had come to Tanga-tanga by accident; but he knew that most of the people believed in them, and so he did not dare to act against them too openly. He would gladly have had them killed; for now he was not receiving from Ope, the high priest, even a quarter as many pieces of bronze as he had before the advent of the Noada.
It was a little better since Pu had come, but the avaricious Furp wanted much more. Ope, the high priest, was secretly their enemy, and for the same reason that Furp was; but being a simple and superstitious fool, he had convinced himself that it was really a true god and goddess who sat upon the dais of the temple.
Though their enemies were powerful, those who believed in Pu and the Noada were many; and they were loved by these because the amount of their taxes and offerings had been greatly reduced, and now they had pieces of bronze with which to buy more food, and such other things as they required.
Both David and O-aa felt the undercurrent of intrigue against them, and they also felt that many of the common people were their friends; but these were never allowed to speak with them alone, as they were always surrounded by the priests of the temple, or the temple guards.
'I wish I might talk with some of these people alone,' said David upon one of the few occasions where he had an opportunity to speak even to O-aa without being overheard by a priest or a warrior. 'I think they are our friends, and if anyone were plotting against us, they would tell us if they had the opportunity.'
'I am sure of it,' said O-aa. 'They have always liked me; and now they like you, too; for between us we have saved them a great many pieces of metal.'
Suddenly David snapped his fingers, 'I have it!' he exclaimed. 'In the world from which I come there is a great and old religious faith whose communicants may come and confess theirs sins and be forgiven. They come alone and whisper to the priest, telling him what is troubling their hearts; and no one but the priest may hear them. Pu is going to ordain that the people of Tanga-tanga have this privilege, with one great advantage over confessors in that other world, in that they may confess their sins directly to the ear of their god.'
'Ope won't let you do it,' said O-aa.
'There is a good, old American expression, which you would not understand, that explains succinctly just how I purpose winning Ope over.'
'What are you going to do, then?' inquired O-aa.
'I am going to scare the pants off him,' said David.
'What are pants?' asked O-aa.
'That is neither here nor there,' replied David.
'Here comes Ope now,' said O-aa. 'I shall watch while you scare his pants off.'
Ope, the high priest, came sinuously towards them; his gait reminding David of the silent approach of a snake.
David glared at the high priest sternly. 'Ope,' he said in a terrible voice, 'I know what you have been thinking.'
'I-I-I-I don't know what you mean,' stammered the high priest.
'Oh, yes you do,' said David, 'Don't you know that you could be struck dead for thinking such thoughts?'
'No, most gracious Pu; honestly, I have not thought a bad thought about you. I have not thought of harming you—' and then he stopped suddenly; realizing, perhaps, that he had given himself away.
'I even know what you are thinking this instant,' cried David; and Ope's knees smote together. 'See that there is no more of it,' continued David; 'and be sure that you obey my slightest wish, or that of your Noada.'
Ope dropped to his knees and covered his eyes with his palms. 'Most glorious Pu,' he said, 'you shall never have reason to upbraid me again.'
'And you'd better tell Furp to be careful what he thinks,' said O-aa.
'I shall tell him,' said Ope, 'but Furp is a wicked man, and he may not believe me.'
'In spite of the wickedness of Tanga-tanga, I am going to bring a great blessing to its people,' said David. 'Have built for me immediately against the wall beside the dais a room two paces square, with a door, and place two benches within it. The room should be two and a half paces high, and have no ceiling.'
'It shall be done at once, most glorious Pu,' said Ope, the high priest.
'See that it is,' said David, 'and when it is done, summon the people to the temple; for I would speak to them and explain this wonderful blessing that I am bringing them.'
Ope, the high priest, was dying to know what the blessing was, but he did not dare ask; and he was still worrying and cudgeling his brain as he went away to arrange to have artisans build a clay room such as David had demanded.
I am sure that he is really Pu, thought Ope, the high priest. I am thinking good thoughts of him and of our Noada; and I always must. I must keep thinking good thoughts of them, good thoughts; and I must not let Furp put any bad thoughts into my head. He thought this last thought in the hope that Pu was listening to it and would place all the blame upon Furp for the bad thoughts which Ope knew only too well he had been entertaining.
When the little room beside the dais was completed David directed that the people be summoned to the temple; and the lesser priests went out in their hideous masks and beat upon drums and summoned the people to come to the temple of Pu; and the temple was so crowded with people that no more could get in, and those who could not get into the temple filled the plaza.
It was O-aa who addressed them: 'Pu has decided to confer upon the people of Tanga-tanga a great blessing,' she said. 'Many of you have sinned; and if you have sinned much and have not been forgiven by Pu, it will be difficult for you to get into Karana after you die. Therefore, Pu has had constructed this little room here, where you may go, one at a time, and sit with Pu and confess your sins, that Pu may grant you forgiveness. You cannot all come at once, but between sleeps Pu will listen to the sins of twenty. Go forth into the plaza now and explain this to the others who are there; and then let twenty return to the temple to confess.'
The people rushed out into the plaza then, and explained this marvelous thing to those who had not heard O-aa's words; and there was almost a riot before twenty had been selected to lay their sins before Pu prior to the next sleep.
David went into the little room, and the first of those who were to confess came and knelt before him, covering his eyes with his hands. David told him to raise and sit on the other bench; and then he said, 'You may now confess your sins, and be forgiven.'
'Many sleeps ago,' said the man, 'before you and our Noada came, I stole pieces of metal from a neighbor who had money; because the priests and the go-sha had taken so many of mine from me that I did not have any to buy food for my family.'
'When you are able to do so, you may return the pieces to the man from whom you took them,' said David, 'and you shall be forgiven. Did you know,' continued David, 'that if you have heard words spoken against Pu or the Noada, and have not come and told them, that that is a sin?'
'I did not know that,' said the man, 'but I have heard words spoken against you and the Noada. The warriors of Furp go among the people, telling them that you and the Noada are not from Karana; are from Molop Az , and that some day soon you will destroy Tanga-tanga and take all its people to the Molop Az for the Little Men to devour. I did not believe that, and there are a good many others who do not believe it, but there are some who do; and these warriors are trying to incite them to murder you and the Noada.'
'What is your name?' asked David; and when the man had told him David scratched the name with the point of his dagger in the clay of the wall of the little room. The man watched this process almost fearfully, for he knew nothing of the alphabets, or of writing. 'This,' said David, 'is the sign of your forgiveness. It will stand as long as the temple stands, and Pu and the Noada remain here in safety. Now go on about your business, whatever it may be, and as you work learn the names of as many as possible who are loyal to Pu and the Noada; so that if we are ever in trouble you may summon them to the temple to defend us.'
The man left the temple, and it did not occur to him that it was strange that god and a Noada who were all
