AS MAN-EATERS GO

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 58, Issue 305, 6 October 1938, Page 7

AS MAN-EATERS GO

By J. HALKET MILLAR. :: Author of “The Bayly Murder lase.

A Story of Adventure Among the Maoris.

All Rights Reserved.

CHAPTER 31. Niglit overtook us before we bad gone many miles and straightway we made camp, the natives ever being fearful of travelling at night, except under dire necessity. We supped from the supplies carried by the slaves and soon retired, for ours was to be an early start on the morrow, ltaumati lay beside me, but apparently he had his suspicions of the tohunga, for ho did not sleep, and some time later gently roused me. As 1 opened my eyes, he placed his fingers across my mouth for an instant.

In a flash I knew that something sinister was afoot, so I lay as quietly as I might while yet contriving to cast around for an explanation of Raumati’s action. Presently I saw Mango half rise from his place and turn in our direction. The light from the dying fire round which we were clustered showed up his evil face for the brief half minute in which he satisfied himself that we slept. Then, silently as some beast of prey, he glided from the camp and soon was lost in the blackness of the surrounding forest, not even a twig snapping to betray the way he took. When we were satisfied that he had definitely left the scene, we both sat up and looked at one another. Swiftly Raumati was upon liis feet, but when I essayed to follow, he placed a hand upon my shoulder, gently but firmly pressing me back. “This is work for Raumati alone,” he whispered, bending close to me. “I will follow him. There is much in his action that I do not like. Your place i% here, beside the kiritea. She may be in need of protection, and your duty it is to remain. I will soon return.” With a smile on his lips he, was gone like a shadow. Anxiously I lay and awaited him. Mango crept back to his place and so carefully did he step that he was in the act of lying on the gronnd before I knew he had returned. Every moment I expected to see Raumati, but the minutes grew into hours and he did not appear. Dawn arrived, heralded by a rosy glow on the forest tops, but still he came not. While the natives were lighting the fires in readiness for the morning meal, I crossed to Ngaero’s side and told her of the events of the niglit, and of my fears that Raumati had met with foul play. Barely had I cautioned her not to show’ uneasiness over the chief’s failure to return, than Mango, smiling blandly, joined us. He broached the very subject of our conversation. “Raumati? Where is lie?’’ he asked, keenly looking me over. “Is he not here?” I countered, thinking that, supposing he had had a hand in Raumati’s disappearance, he would betray himself. ; “Surely the White Heron knows he is not?” “Then he will return ere long, I doubt not,” I replied. “He was here last night; he is not here now,” he ventured. I could hare told him that. I hoped he would say more, but after a thoughtful shake of his head and a quick sidelong glance at Ngaere, he took himself off. “I wonder how much he knows?’’ I muttered, but Ngaere did not reply as we walked to where food had been set out for us. Of the gloom that lay so heavily upon my heart as we recommenced our march to the south, I need not speak. Sufficient to say that as we trudged through the narrow tracks between tall trees and amid sombre undergrowth, I kept a sharp eye on our companions. To have turned back would have been impossible, for the great number with which we had to contend made our escape out of the question. Ngaere had to be protected, as Raumati bad said, so I decided to go thi’ough with the adventure whatever the outcome.

Three days we occupied in reaching the fortress at Oromahoe, but not till we had actually sighted the gates did I give up hope of again seeing Raumati. Only then I surrendered to despair. On the way from the cave, Mango and Tu had kept somewhat aloof, but in no way could I fasten suspicion upon them. Kapu had turned back on the second day, ostensibly bound for his own pa. Approaching the great gates, our party quickened their steps, and before long we were once more* standing in the marae from which Raumati and I had made so precipitous a flight. The spontaneous and heart-felt welcome accorded us was such as to make the hardships of the past seem as nothing, and that very night preparations were begun for our strange wedding ceremony.

Nothing could exceed in sheer wildness the abandon of joy that followed our arrival. I seemed to be intoxicated with it all, and thoughts of danger were far away. Mango showed not tho slightest trace of enmity toward me, and Tu, who must have held a deepseated hatred of me, kept more or less in tho background. Ngaere was radiantly happy, and the old chief, Hiwa, seemed almost gay at the re-union. But we were all woefully misled; wc had walked with open eyes into a trap that could have been set only by a blood-thirsty, vengeance-seeking Maori tohunga. Eager to have done with this long-drawn-out ceremony, I chafed at the prodigious amount of talking that accompanied it, to the native mind a very necessary adjunct to the uniting of a maid of such high rank to a pakeha. Littlo sleep did I get that night of our arrival, and as I tossed restlessly on my couch in the whare I had previously occupied, my thoughts turned to Raumati, and .1 mourned foi him as though he were dead, for what else could his continued absence mean, save that he had fallen into the hands of his enemies and so was held a prisoner. Nothing less would have kept him from my side, of that I was certain.

Morning found mo in nowise refresh* od, my mind clouded with tho weight of mv friend’s fate. Early I sought

out Ngaere, and together wo left the pa, sauntering out (past the cultivations and into the quiet of the forest tracks, far from the hideous racket and endless speechmaking of our well-mean-ing acquaintances. Gradually the brooding silence entered into my very being, calming my agitatiofi, and the nearness of one so soon to bo my bride turned my thoughts to other and happier things. Thus, our minds filled with happiness, and being in a mood to imagine that peace had at last risen over the horizon of our troubled lives, we strolled, with heads elevated and eyes upturned to the cloud-flecked sky, so that for a time we failed to see at our feet that which brought us to a sudden halt. And with the discovery came all the old fears crowding back, thrusting aside the joy that a moment before had been ours.

It was Ngaere, who, glancing at the earth on which we trod, uttered a cry that halted me in my tracks. Dumbfounded she stood, her eyes glued upon the ground. One glance showed me what she had already seen. For the second time we gazed at the deep impressions of shod feet. They pointed in the direction we were going, but whether they were new-made or some days old, I could not tell. “They are here,” whispered Ngaere, glancing about her, but in nowise showing traces of the fear I might have expected. “Might not these marks have been made days, even weeks ago?” I asked. “It is not possible, for did not Raumati tell us that the marks he saw in the mould in the valley beneath the cave, were freshly made?” “Then they have followed us here. For what purpose?” “Who can say?” she replied, while wo continued to look at the ground. “See, White Heron, no foot has overtrod these marks of the white men, and this path is used frequently.’’ I had not noticed, but when she pointed it out I thought it was high time we retraced our steps, so before long we were once more on the edge of the cultivations. Five minutes later we were within the fortress, glad enough now to be- in the midst of our trusty people. What was the meaning of the whalers’ presence outside the fortress? I asked myself that question half a hundred times, but found no ready answer. It filled mo with dread to think that even at this time there might bo strife, though I tried to reason that all would be well. To the tohunga and to Tu I turned for an explanation, but both professed ignorance of the men’s presence, and were so emphatic in their answers that I could only conclude they spoke the truth. Nevertheless, a demon of doubt tormented me throughout the remainder of the day, giving me no rest, even when I retired to my whare, there to listen to the sounds of rejoicing that went on far into the night. Next day the final scenes in connection -with our marriage were enacted, add at last I stood beside iny wife to watch, with swelling heart, the beginnings of tho whare we were to call our own. Working as beings possessed, the natives collected the material, uprights and ridgo poles leaping into place at the beckoning of these practised craftsmen.

Tu worked with the meanest of the men, and was second only to his father, Mango, the tohunga, who gesticulated, capered and talked incessantly. The call to food did not stay the building, for the men worked in relays. Night came on, and still they toiled, lashing thatch and walls by the light of fires kindled to aid them. Fascinated, I watched the men crawling nimbly over the roof, hauling here, adjusting there, till, in the grey light of a fateful dawn, there remained only the finishing touches to be made. (To be Continued.!