THE WEB OF THE SPIDER

Auckland Star, Volume XXII, Issue 139, 13 June 1891, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE WEB OF THE SPIDER

A TALE OF ADVENTURE IN THE fVSAORi WAR.

BY H. B. MARRIOTTtWATSON, £uthor of ."Marahuna," " Lady -'Faints Heart," etc. i

(ALI/-RIGHTS RESERVED.)

CHAPTER XV. UPON THE HEELS OK KAIMOANA

The bub showed plainly in the falling evening, and a dozen paces in front of ib lay a confused figure under the darker shadow of a stack of firewood.

'What unearthly sounds,' shouted Foster. 'Don't go near.' 'It is the cry of the Hauhaus, said Matuku, appearing suddenly by them. He had followed hastily. Palliser started. ' Hauhaus 1' he said, and, striding up, he bent over the obscure body. . Id was the surveyor, crouched upon his knees, and doubled up upon the ground. The contortion of the frail humanity was a thing to shudder at, but it was nob so much the eyes as the ears that shrank away in horror. He appeared to foam ab the mouth and grovol as he uttered the inhuman sounds Palliser now caught distinctly. It was : ' Hau ! Hau ! Hau ! Hau ! Pai marire. Hau ! Hau !' and 'Hau ! Hau ! Pai marire. Hau ! Hau !' and ' Hau ! Hau !' infinitely repeated. Palliser lifted him from the ground, bub bo fell back, as the dog falls to its vomit, scrabbling ab his beard, and crying like a ghoul. Palliser stepped back to the others. * Ib is the cry of the Hauhaus,' said Matuku again. • The Hauhaus !' echoed Palliser, ' poor devil. They've driven him oub of his mind.'

•Whab are we to do?' asked Foster uneasily. ' What can we do but waib bill he comes to bis senses? The fib has nob lasted long as a rule.'

Doglike,the figure fawned upon the earth, uttering its horrid cries till the madness paseed, and then it got upon its feeb and came rolling towards them. His gaze was lowered to the ground, and he would have gone by unheeding had not Palliser put a detaining hand upon him. The wretch ewung round and broughb up dizzily, facing Foster. For a moment he stared tearfully and then burst out: 'What are you doing here? You, you ! I know your plans. Turn him out. You have tracked me here. I will loose_ the devils upon you. You shall not find it;. I have hidden it away. Go, I will loose tbe devils on you.' He ceased in exhaustion, and tottered into Palliser's arms. ' No,' he whispered, directing his skelebon hand ab Foster.

« You shall find nothing, nothing. I have the maps carefully concealed. Ho ! Ho !' he chuckled, I know their ways. On Cali; fornia, on Bendigo, on Otago, on Tauranga. I know them all. Forty years, gentlemen, foity years ; and it 3 a lifetime in ten years on the goldfields.' He nodded his head, muttering and chuckling and seeming to have forgotten tbeir presence. 4We musb put him in the hut,' said Palliser, ' for to-night at any rate.'

They left him babbling in this security and retraced their way to their companions, whom they put in possession of tbe uncomfortable facts.

•This also is the doing of the spirits Cf the mountain,' commented Matuku. 'Friend, the fate has fallen on one already. Why shall it spare us ?' ' O, foolish Matuku,' said Palliser, ' have I not made a friend of this madman ? And does the atua touch one without bis senses ? No, ib is plain bo a sensible man thab atua spares tbe madman, and tbe friends of tbe madman. It ia the doing of the Hauhaus, as you yourself have said.' ' This is too horrible,' said Ida, with a ebudder. ' Poor old man !' 'What has made him mad, do you think ? 'Undoubtedly ib was a shock received from the Hauhaus. They're hideous devils, if all be true. You noticed how terrorstricken he looked at tbe name of the Ngatiawas. They're the bulk of the Hauhaus. And, then, there's this chief, Te Katipo, he seems to be a terrible creature, according to Matuku.' • But do you think his daughter « Yes, I 'think ib is only too possible. She has been killed by theni in some massacre, and he escaped, mad." ' It is the cry of the Hauhaus,'murmured Matuku to himself.

' Come,' said Palliser, ' we have lost three days wandering round the mountain and now we have a madman on our hands. We seem bo be cursed bhroughout. My luck has always been of the vilest. Miss Caryll, you might have done better with the Nga-

tiawas. ' Bebber,' she said, breathlessly, * better ? staring after him in wonder. The night was spent uneasily ; for winds rose in the upper ravines and came sweeping down the mountain, howling ab the crevices in the hut. Their fury was supremely dismal as they burst and shrieked and bellowed in the ears, and rushed round the building, tearing and crackling and rattling among the firewood. Now and then a branch snapped sharply in tbe bushes behind, and when all the sounds subsided they could hear the increasing mumblings of the poor wildwib in his corner. He talked of many things, coherently and incoherently, bub chiefly of gold and goldfields, till it became plain to them that the monomania of the solitary digger entered largely into his madness. Here was a human body long tenanted by an unbalanced soul, and now hy subsequent misfortune the home of ravings, whereof the ghastly deeds of war, the horror of the Hauhaus, and an irremediable lunacy of gold were chiefly constituent.

On the morrow they had their inscrutable destiny to face, which they did with sore misgivings, and a little hardness on Palliaer's part. They were now no better fortuned than on the day of their issue from the darker bush, worse even, for their lack of hope. But tbe master mind of tbe party had been busy in the night, and was prepared with some uncertain calculations which must serve as their directions. There ran, he remembered, a soubherly road from the jaws of Te Tauru, where he and the Maoris had turned off by the blazed track. As this must reach to some end it seemed likely to pass in the neighbourhood. Assuredly it lay not westward of Hine-te-ao, or else it would have been struck by them in their cruel wandermgs. Matuku, on being questioned, discovered a knowledge that this track (though he had never travelled it. was reputed to load southwards into the fastnesses of the Hauhaus, and if so, it could not be so very far to the east of the mountain. They must

therefore work to thab quarter in the hope of hitting upon it. Travel in the bush where birds abounded waa nofc the dreadful affair it had been in the dead wilderness, so they looked to escape the evil of starvation. Ib was true the party was now encumbered with a sixth, and that a lunatic. But to leave him were an inhumanity, and one more mouth no greab addition to their inconveniences. The wretched wild-wib had become mild and tractable by the morning; he offered no objections to their arrangements, bub obeyed placidly and in silence, nor gave any occasion for concern, for though he still muttered, ib was only ab odd times, and in .he mosb docile of humours. So bhey set oub upon bheir march once more, and ib waa now the eleventh day since Palliser left the hands of Kaimoana.

There was nothing notable in their journey eastward. They marched all day in a drenching rain which penetrated the open bush, and web them to the skin. Tho greater parb of their way was through luxuriant ferns of all kinds, rising like a minor forest of bracken half-way up bheir bodies. At firsb this covering was protective to their lower parts, being dry and warm, bub as thoy went on tho rain sank through bhe fern, and gathered in a heavy dew upon bhe fronds so thab even when the storm passed, and the sun came out they had no opportunity of drying ; for they were soaked continuously to the hips as though wading in water. Miss Caryll suffered perhaps more than the others, for she had only her long stockings clothing her to the knee, and the petticoats were ab once too high and too low for commodious progress in bhe ferns. Bub ab the end of the day, they struck the track ab a right angle, and had tbe delighb of turning their faces northwards, and to civilisation. They encamped bub an hour's journey up the track, choosing a spob a little in the bush, where the trees had formed the amplest shelter from the rain. Thoir nighb alarms had been so consbanb of lato thab Palliser fell asleep uneasily, and woke in the dusk of morning to hear voices with no feeling of surprise. He stole across the belt between them and the track, and found Matuku bent low over tbe earth. ' Whabis it now ?' he asked. 1 Maniapoto,' said the Maori, holding up a warning hand. The tramp of feeb could be heard clo.e by, and they both slipped to the rear of a bush. Immediately afterwards a band of Maoris, fully armed, swept round a bend of the track, and wenb pasb ab a quick rate. In bheir centre was a tall figure with nodding head plumes jusb visible in bhe growing light. Palliser fell back a sbep as he passed. 'Good heavens!' he muttered, 'Kaimoana.' ' Kaimoana,' said Matuku, with an air of concern, ' the Maniapoto of Matapihi are on the warpath.' ' Where are tbey going ?' asked Palliser. * How can I say ? What enemies have bhe Maniapotos save bhe pakehas ? It is plain thab Kaimoana should be going to fight the pakehas and swallow them up. Bub be is wise. Perhaps ib is to a great runanrja he is going.* * Where ?' * Parihera, southward lie the Hauhaus. Is nob the Maniapoto going southward ? Bub is Te Katipo to talk and nob to fighb ? No, he will talk and fighb, too. How do I know the counsels of Te Katipo ?' * You always have Te Katipo in your mouth,' said Palliser. * Perhaps, after all, I do nob like tbe taste of him. See, I spit him oub. He is brave as the Maori and cunning as the pakeha. But there is no mercy in bim. He is a wise man, and tbe rats he catches do nob go home to tell their brothers.' In deepest thought, Palliser looked along the avenue down which the war party had vanished. Till now he had been benb only on escaping oub of the country wibh the girl and the old man. Bab this sudden passage of the Maniapoto chief bad enlivened his anterior prejudices; he remembered his distrust, his ancient resolve, hia quest and his mission of vengeance. Where was this old knave speeding? To the Hauhaus doubtless, to bruib new schemes for the outrage of the accursed pakehas ; perhaps to fighb and ravage in the south. There revived in him the labenb adventurousness which had sent him bo the office of avenger ; and quickly he hurled to the ground tbe tutu berries he had been unconsciously gathering in his meditations, crying : * By the Lord, I'll do it.' The obhers had nob been disturbed, nor did Palliser rouse them, but got into his blankets again for a couple of hours' sleep. The secret of his expedition waa known only to himself. Hibherbo, he had been conbent thab Foster and Miss Caryll, as well as the Maoris, should understand thab he was searching for his old mate. The gold aud the strange mysteries connected with ib he had spoken of to neither. Since the rescue of the girl she had heard from him as much as he deemed advisable to tell her ; thab Caryll had been a pakeha-Maori (which indeed was in her own knowledge), bhab he had summoned his friend bo his deabhbed, that when Matapihi was reached, he had disappeared, gone, according to the tale of the chief, upon a journey to the south. Aotea's story was also known to Ida, who was, therefore, aware thab the fates of Ihirua and her father were involved together in the same obscurity. She did nob remember Caryll, unless a dim picture of a bearded man, whether fair or dark, tall or short she could nob say, may be called a remembrance. Of her mother, too, she had faint memories, but of an insensible charm. The father had been a name to her, the name of a mysterious outcast, whom ab firsb she had held boo affectionately, through good and evil report, as to a man misunderstood who loved her ; bub as later the hapless vagabondage of this unseen and silent parent rose before her maturer mind, she had impulses of distaste, days of irritation and doubt, until finally he appeared in other proportions, of a husband who had betrayed his trust, a father who had forgotten. The news of his dying brought before her a sudden apparition of paternity, and the strangeness of ib melted her, even heated her into a quick enthusiasm. The voice out of pasb bime touched her curiously, calling back that bearded face with a hundred different expressions Ib stooped to her at nights ere she fell asleep, and stirred in her, rash zeal for the material appearance of it. This ib was, no less bhan the new filial duty, despatched her upon her wild adventure. But of his last thoughts for her, ot hia history and possessions, of the secret store of gold, she knew nothing, nor that Palliser had any further duty than to trace his helpless comrade to his end, at the hand of some implacable Maori or fell disease. To her mind this office of his made him aromantic figure; from the first moment of their acquaintance, when he pulled her from the horse and out of the power of the Ngabiawas. She had been a little awed by his fo.cefulne33, and his abruptness and remoteness intensified this feeling. She could measure Foster, her faithful henchman who ran precipitately into all evils on her behalf; but Palliser stood apart from her wibh his reserve, his downnghtness, his over-mastery and his knowledge. Being of an errant will herself, she had rebelled ab nrsb againsb his cynical indifference : had been piquect by his insensibility, bub with her_ indignation was a pervading admiration of his superior manliness ; and even in the few days she had grown to accept his word as the law of her actions, though resenting so chill a conbrol. Bub Palliser had decided that the hour had come for a complete confidence. He saw that Foster could be trusted to the death, and tie _aw too thab it would be un-

reasonable to take further risks without a full revelation of his object. He put his plans before them ab the morning meal. 'Foster,' he said, 'I have some facts I wanb you and Miss Caryll to understandThe Maniapoto can hear nothing, and as for bhe poor lunatic, he is of no consequence. Bub this concerns both of you.' ' Fire away,' exclaimed Foster, lighting his pipe. Ida drew closer with her eyes fastened expectantly upon him. Somehow his confidential tone filled her with a pleasant sense of anticipation. ' Miss Caryll, you are aware that I was your father's chum on the goldfields. That's a good many years ago. I lost sight of him for twelve years after we parted. I've told you that before. Bub you don'b quite know how I came to enter on this business.' * My father sent for you.' 4 Yes, bub for a reason you know nothing of. Ib wasn't sentiment with Lance Caryll, nor a desire to see my pretty face, though, naturally, he did get a little bib sick for bhe sight of a white man, on his deathbed. Bub there was another reason. He'd gob gold.' ' Gold !' cried Foster. ' Yes, a fairish heap of gold, collected over many years, in sundry "pockets," I imagine. This money was to go to you, Miss Caryll, and he didn't know how to manage it, surrounded by niggers, so he sent for me. That's bhe long and short of it.' Foster whistled. ' Where is ib ?' ho asked. ' Ah, that's the question, and in thab question your father's fato is really involved.' With thab he gave a concise account of his discoveries and suspicions, telling of Kaimoana, of tho disappearance of Parekura, ot his inferences upon the tale of the night journey of Caryll and Ihirua as set forth by Aotea. 'So you see,' he concluded, • this is a complicated job. Suspicion points to Kaimoana as being the assassin of Ihirua, and the robber of the gold. Your father's last letter hinted his fears of thab. Now my theory all along has been thab Kaimoana instigated the attack, if he did nob personally conduct ib, and thab bhe map of directions as to the hiding-place of the gold fell into his hands. Parekura, according to Caryll's letter and Aotea's evidence, was a faithful friend of your father's, and his disappearance just beforo the despatch of the letter of directions (which, mind you, was to havo come by his hand) would go to prove that Kaimoana, reckoning him dangerous, got him removed. Whether ho is dead or whether he merely went back to his tribe, as Aotea thinks, is a mystery, as ib is a mystery whab has become of Ihirua and Caryll.'

The girl had lisbened with the keenest attention, and her eyes sparkled as, breaking tho pause which ensued, she said : ' Why do you tell us this, Mr Palliser ?'

* Because,' said he, ' I intend to solve bho mysteries.' •What —when we geb to Matapihi?' asked Foster. 'No ; before then, I hope. When we geb bo Kaimoana.' •Bub he ' ' Passed us last night in bhe darkness.' •Taipo! Taniwha !' exclaimed Foster, pulling his pipe from his moubh. ' Whileyou were sleeping peacefully, Miss Caryll, and Fosber was snoring no doubt. Kaimoana and his men wenb by us some four hours ago.' ' South ?' said Foster, staring across the bush. ' Precisely, and there we musb follow if we wanb bo solve bhe mystery.' 'Bub—but that's the Hauhau country, by thunder,' said Foster, looking doubtfully ab Ida. 'Sol understand.' •Thelibblegel—' 'The little girl,' broke in Ida with a display of excitement, ' will follow, too, if Mr Palliser thinks fit Ib isn't the gold—l don't care for that—bub supposing he should nob be dead, but a prisoner among the Maoris ? I, too, will follow if I may, and— and ' * I told you she was a spirited little gel,' whispered Foster, nudging Palliser, with a grin on his face. ' But Lord, why should you run any fresh risks ? This bit of devil-may-care gob you into thab moss with bhe Ngatiawas, Miss Caryll. You let us go on and do tho business; don't you meddle in these nasty mix-ups.' * And what's to become of me then ?' asked Ida.

Foster hesitated. ' Well,' he said, ' that's rather a facer. I dunno where we could pub you.' ' I must go too,' she said decidedty. ' She must go too,' assented Palliser. When Matuku heard of the new plans he was indignant and remonstrated freely. His cautious gloomy nature discerned no hope for so fatuous a venture. ' You are mad,' he said plainly to Palliser. ' The madness of the old fool has come upon you, as I said. You are the second, and we shall all perish. This is because we scoffed ab bhe taniwhaand tbe spirits of Hine-te-ao.' 'The way is open to you,'returned Palliser, 'you may return.' ' That is the advice of a coward. Ido not return when my friends go forward. Bub perhaps you will believe yourself a fool somo day. The Hauhaus are strong and well armed ; thoy are also many. Is ib nob a fool who would go againsb them when they are only bliree and the women and a madman? The dogs jump into bhe darkness, bub bhere is a shark waiting for them.'

Palliser had grown tired of the croakings of this raven, so made no answer, bub found a sudden adherenb in Aotea.

The Maoris had kept much bo themselves since the additions to the party, and Aotea had bhroughout exhibited a baciburn bemper. The Maori is by nature cheerful, bub sombre in the graver crises of life, and the Maori woman i 3 especially given to sorrow. She has ever an eye for lamentation, and the underlying melancholy of the race comes oftenest to the surface in her. When she parts from a friend, she weeps, and when she greets one long absent she celebrates the reunion with tears. Aotea, possessed by a desire of vengeance—the mosb dominanb passionin barbarouspeoples —was as gloomy and benacious as her lover was of habib. Her affections, being seb upon the duty of revenge, had scarcely room for Matuku, while the pakehas were, in her eyes, mere instruments, though with all she had a common lob. If Palliser would consent to aid her pursuit of justice, she was content bo co-operate in his plans also. ' Peace ! peace !' she now said to Matuku. ' You have no right to a word in this journey. It is mine and Parihera's. He is brave and lam cunning. Between us we shall escape tho Hauhaus. There is no match for bhe cunning of a woman.'

This ended the controversy, and setting their faces soubhward, thej r hastened upon the tail of.Kaimoana.

A day's march at ease brought tho motley company into a region of barren hills, through which they wound by defiles to a smaller forest beyond. The old man was still quieb, giving no trouble nor paying the least attention to what wenb on around him. He book his food when it was given him, turned in to sleep when he was ordered, and set out when he was requested, with all the appearance of intelligence and rationality. On one occasion, when the talk had grown excited, he caught up the word ' Hauhau,' bandied so freely about, and wenb on breathing ib to himself, repeating a thin echo of the words he had gabbled on the mountain. Ib seemed almosb that he had become too feeble to rave, and that seniliby, nob insanity, prevailed with him, though his gait showed nothing of physical weakness, and he trotted on bravely with a long staff in his hand. _. Th« huafi thus renewed, had " turned

Palliser from his old reticence ; he grew vivacious, and showed traits he had never shown before, jesting idly upon any topic in his mind. Foster, whom nothing could depress from his even humour, displayed, nevertheless, a more sober spirit than his chief, for he was haunted by the perils in which this expedition mi?hb involve his charge. Palliser laughed as ho walked side by side wibh the girl, saying : 'I'm afraid Foster thinks us very wild and foolish. He looks upon you as a daughter, usurping my privileges.' ' Yours V she said with a faint smile of

surprise. ' Yes. Didn'b your father leavo me your guardian, young lady?' • My father may not be dead,' sho said, soberly. ' True,' he returned, after a pause, unwilling to disturb the hope he knew she cherished. 'Still, I am your guardian meanwhile, whom you must obey.' ' I have obeyed you,' sho said gaily. 'On the whole, pretty well for a woman. Observe, I don'b say girl any longer.' She looked at him as if in doubt whether to take him seriously, then laughed a little.

' You're nob so very old, you know,' she said.

'I am ancient beside you, my dear,' he replied. ' I've been on the world a long time, Miss Caryll. Sixteen years, and my life's nob been an easy one.'

' It's curious to think of you being on the diggings with my father.' 'He was eighb years my senior. We had strange_ experiences together, very strange.' "lie looked ab her meditatively. ' I'm sometimes inclined to think this buffeting about the world doesn't do a man any good. Bub it's destiny. What else can one do if there's no money in the family? And there was precious little in mine. But I don't know thab it's wholesome. Why, bless you, I've lived as long as three years without seeing a woman —that is, I mean, a lady.' 'No wonder you were afraid of being encumbered with me, then,' sho said, slyly. ' Oh, you have forgiven _hab phrase,' ho replied, smiling. ' When he smiles, reflected Ida, 'ho is perfectly charming.' ' Then you don't think me a nuisance ?' she asked.

He laughed. ' I haven't said so,' said he, and then looking ab her wenb on. 'Do you know there's something of Lance Caryll in your face. I can't quito identify ib, bub there's a brick in it reminds me of poor Lance.'

' I'm glad ofthat,' shesaid, butshedidnob know why, unless 'twas bhab her daughterhood was growing dearer to her. Ab midday they were in a thick bush going slowly, for tho condition of the track informed them of the recent passage of men. They deemed themselves to be quite in the neighbourhood of the enemy, and so ib was resolved to diverge a little from the track, in order to rest and make observations. About two or throe hundred yards inwards, thoy found aspotamongnikau palms, well shaded from the sun, where they halted for some timo. The day was extremely hot, and the march had tired them to such an extont thab both Foster and Miss Caryll nodded a little as they lay halfcovered in bhe long ferns. Even Palliser, who was anxious to be alert, felt somewhat drowsy, and could nob hold his ears abtenbive according to his custom. Bub presently, when they had been stationary an hour," he saw Matuku lift his head and heard a whisper of warning. Turning slightly in the direction in which the Maniapoto was gazing, he thought he detected the sound°of footsteps. He pub his hand on Foster, and murmured :

' Pull yourself together. There's something forward here.' Ab the same moment from another part of the bush camo the crack of a snapped twig. Ida started and opened her eyes. v '■'Htfsh 1' -3-tiei Palliser! Lie down clb_e among the ferns all of you,' and he repeated the command in Maori. Old Mayhew was seated gazing into the sky with the meaningless expression of the imbecile. Palliser took him by the arm and pulled him back among the ferns. There was nothing now to be heard, and afber a few anxious minutes Palliser had almost come to the conclusion that the sounds had been duo to tho wind straying through the tree 3, or to the movement of some creature. But suddenly bhere was a sharp report, and in an instant the bush was loud with noise. Guns were discharged on all sides of them, and they could hear tho bullets rattling through the branches, and striking against the tree trunks.

' What could they bo tiring at ?' Palliser wondered ; and twisting his head round, he was astounded bo see the upper parb of a Maori peeping over a pepper tree, as he levelled his gun toward the underwood behind them. The smoke curled out of the barrel, bub tho report was losb in bhe melee of sounds. There was a gasp and a groan in the undergrowth, and a Maori fell through the bushes to the very edge of the ferns. Matuku wriggled forward by Palliser and stared at the dead man.

' Arawa,' he murmured in Palliser's ear. ' Arawa !' said he, with a starb ; ' bhe Arawas are friendly natives.'

' Can wo geb to them ?' asked Poster, who had screwed himself round to communicate with his leader.

'No ; if there's any movement we shall have the fire directed here from both quarters. We musb wait and see what happens. For heaven's sake see that Miss Caryll's all right.' ' Leave her to me,' said Foster, squirming back again. All this time the cannonade wenb on over their heads.' Sunk in the long fern, and sheltered by loose bushes, they were invisible to both bhe contending parties, yet their position was by no means without danger. A bullet passed just over Palliser's head, tearing through the fronds, and another flattened on the base of a pine and dropped by Matuku. The combatants were shouting and firing from all parts of tho bush, and the comparatively open space, where tbe party had taken refuge, was raked by the fusilade. Neither the Arawas nor their opponents ventured oub cf concealment, bub now and then a man popped from behind a tree or a bush and having discharged his gun fell back. Palliser could see among the foes of the Ara was a lithe man of middle height, with red head plumes, dodging from tree to tree and bush to bush, firing each time with the greatest coolness and deliberation. He had come gradually nearer to the party in the ferns, and his companions also began presently to show through the trees, ao tha''- it appeared as if the Arawas were giving way. Indeed, tho fire from the opposing party grow fiercer each moment, and their shouts louder and stronger.

While engaged in watching with anxiety the progress of the enemy Palliser felb his elbows touched, and burning found the old surveyor ab his side. * See,' ho cried, pointing his finger. 'They are coming, oh, they are coming. Hauhau ! Hauhau ! Hauhau !'

« Silence !' said Palliser, sternly, pulling him down.

At thab moment the Arawas turned and fled, and the noise of their retreat could be heard fading quickly into the bush. The others raised a cry of exultation, and dashed out from their hiding places. Half a dozen wore rushing direct towards the bank of ferns.

'We must run, we must run,' said Palliser, hoarsely. ' It's the only chance. Up and run !' They were upon their feet simultaneously, Foster clutching Ida with his big arms. As they rose, a shoub of astonishment wenb up from the Maoris at the sudden apparition out of the ground. 'Look, look!' cried Aotea, excitedly. 'Parekura ! Parekura 1'

A dozen guns were levelled at them. One shob had whipped by Foster's ear, when, burning swiftly ab Aotea's voice, the libhe man with the red plumes, whom Palliser had noticed, and who was in the foreground to the left, glanced hurriedly ab them, and then, running forward, held up his hands to his party. ' Stop !" he cried. The Maoris lowered their guns. All had passed in a flash, and Palliser and the others faltered in the act of flight. The lithe man turned from his men and faced them. There was a hideous squeal in Palliser's ear, ringing like a death cry. ' Te Katipo 1 To Katipo !' shrieked the madman, and, breaking from the centre of them, he fled howling into the bush. (To be Continued.)