Yet
the curse will come too, but if so, it is better to die of a curse in
a day to be, than to-morrow at the fangs of the god. Oh! why was I
born! Why was I born!" and he began to weep.
"That is a question many have asked and none have been able to answer,
O friend Kalubi, though mayhap there is an answer somewhere," I
replied in a kind voice.
For my heart was stirred with pity of this poor wretch mazed and lost
in his hell of superstition; this potentate who could not escape from
the trappings of a hateful power, save by the door of a death too
horrible to contemplate; this priest whose doom it was to be slain by
the very hands of his god, as those who went before him had been
slain, and as those who came after him would be slain.
"Yet," I went on, "I think you have chosen wisely, and we hold you to
your word. While you are faithful to us, we will say nothing. But of
this be sure--that if you attempt to betray us, we who are not so
helpless as we seem, will betray you, and it shall be you who die, not
us.
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