THE RAIN-MAKER. 447 



er having kept himself secluded for a fortnight, he one day 

 appeared in the public fold and proclaimed that he had at 

 last discovered the cause of the drought. After keeping the 

 audience in suspense for a short time, he suddenly broke forth, 

 " Do you not see," he asked, " when clouds cover us, that 

 Hamilton and Moffat looked at them? Their white faces 

 scare them away, and you can not expect rain so long as 

 they are in the country." This was a home stroke. The 

 people became impatient, and poured forth their curses against 

 the poor missionaries as the cause of all their sorrows. The 

 bell, which was rung for public worship, they said, frightened 

 the vapors ; the prayers even came in for a share of the 

 blame. "Don't you," said the chief one day rather fiercely 

 to Mr. Moffat, "bow down in your houses, and pray and 

 talk to something bad in the ground?" 



But to shorten a long story : after exposing the missiona- 

 ries to much risk and danger by his insinuations and accusa- 

 tions, the tables were turned in their favor. The rain-maker 

 was now suspected ; his gross impositions were unveiled, and 

 he was about to pay the penalty of death — the well-merited 

 reward for his scandalous conduct — when Mr. Moffat gener- 

 ously interfered, and, through his presence of mind and hu- 

 manity, succeeded in saving the life of one who had so often 

 threatened his own, and who would not have scrupled to 

 take it, could he thereby have served his purpose. Death, 

 however, soon overtook him, for he was eventually murdered 

 among the Bauangketsi nation. 



Mr. Moffat concludes his remarks on the career of this 

 notable rain-maker by the following observation : 



"It is a remarkable fact that a rain-maker never dies a 

 natural death. I have known some, and heard of many, who 

 had, by one means or other, fallen a prey to the fury of their 

 disappointed employers; but, notwithstanding this, there 

 was no want of successors. There is not one tribe whose 

 people have not imbrued their hands in the blood of these 



