"
He went. The child pointed to the village below, or rather what had
been the village, for now there was none. It had gone and with it Kosa's
kraal; the site was a pool, the huts had vanished, all of them, and some
of the roofs lay upon the sides of the koppie, looking like overturned
coracles. Only the church and the graveyard remained, for those stood on
slightly higher ground by the banks of the river.
A little while later a miserable and dejected crowd arrived at the
mission-house, wrapped up in blankets or anything else that they had
managed to save.
"What do you want?" asked Thomas.
"Teacher," replied the Chief Kosa, with twitching face and rolling eyes,
"we want you to come down to the church and pray for us. Our houses are
gone, our fields are washed away. We want you to come to pray for us,
for more rain is gathering on the hills and we are afraid."
"You mean that you are cold and wish to take refuge in the church, of
which I have the key. You have sought rain and now you have got rain,
such rain as you deserve. Why do you complain? Go to your witch-doctor
and ask him to save you."
"Teacher, come down to the church and pray for us," they wailed.
In the end Thomas went, for his heart was moved to pity, and Dorcas and
Tabitha went with him.
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