Then to prevent further argument she bade them bring their
picks with which they worked the land; also poles, mats, and
palmstring, and help to dig up the Holy Flower. This was done under
the superintendence of Stephen, who here was thoroughly in his
element, although the job proved far from easy. Also it was sad, for
all these women wept as they worked, while some of them who were not
dumb, wailed aloud.
Even Miss Hope cried, and I could see that her mother was affected
with a kind of awe. For twenty years she had been guardian of this
plant, which I think she had at last not unnaturally come to look upon
with some of the same veneration that was felt for it by the whole
Pongo people.
"I fear," she said, "lest this sacrilege should bring misfortune upon
us."
But Brother John, who held very definite views upon African
superstitions, quoted the second commandment to her, and she became
silent.
We got the thing up at last, or most of it, with a sufficiency of
earth to keep it alive, injuring the roots as little as possible in
the process.
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