noon
`` Then , Hokosa , you will take her to your sorrow , '' answered Owen solemnly , `` for she will learn to hate you who have robbed her of royalty and rule , giving her wizardries and your grey hairs in place of them . '' And thus for that night they parted . On the following day , while Owen sat eating his morning meal with a thankful heart , a messenger arrived saying that the king would receive him whenever it pleased him to come . He answered that he would be with him before noon , for already he had learned that among natives one loses little by delay . A great man , they think , is rich in time , and hurries only to wait upon his superiors . At the appointed hour a guard came to lead him to the royal house , and thither Owen went , followed by John bearing a Bible . Umsuka was seated beneath a reed roof supported by poles and open on all sides ; behind him stood councillors and attendants , and by him were Nodwengo the prince , and Hokosa , his mouth and prophet .