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SHORT STORIES.

PIKO AW) RITO, ..; I .-■.<■ Bt. Charts f Oscar PAlmsh.. - .' j { Young ' Piko , ffl the- pijde ' of the 'pi. .Lithe;, athletic, Lsjnewy, his. muscles , were seen to work 'beneaia bis 'skin when with the young, rangatiras. he* practised for. war or. the fishing.;.- ; But young. Piko aspired beyond his social status when he was seen aboat wi*h *Rftdithe ariki's only daughter, and the light of his* eyes. Their meeting was forbidden, 1 irtid' the young woman shut herself away 1 ttf keep' cdmpany^with • melancholy and' J c^eeflesßnesß. * Not' so Piko. Id fhe stillness, of night he paSaied I his canoe to . a .pine-shadowed reach of thej river, and as opportunity servjedt h-e stowed aboard waier, dried fish, and «nch vegetables as were' known tc- the Ngai Ta-hu, also seeds and tools, ;for he contemplated no- aghoble- flignt-'-'rather an L emigration. '; > •- - ■ i I- ;/ • i [ , '''•;. '"' . r '•• ' ' •'„ : ■) |- Piko left, the.. ruser and - the , forest; as .the lingering sunlight jaded, from the westerr facets of the mountains, and .took the- . tuack - through the matted fern to the pa. The' gates were -shut" and securely 'bound, Irot Piko knew eyery inch of palifiadc and | • ditch. He ateo kjnfew on tbe" seaward cliff side a track where the daring: might climb by day. This Jie essayJxFb'y night*. He stood about where his rivals slept; he stepped lightly between their whares ; he came to the raupp walls that sheltered his 'ove ; .he heard her deep moan from . w/ithin ; he rustled , the reeds near her head, and spoke in a low voice : "Gome forth, oh,, my Brito! Come, forth, ray love! foi? -the spirit winds and the stars alone ate without. The, waaim heart of .him you love is passionate for you, and his canoe 's ready below" by the river." "Ha, my Piko!". came a sad response. "But how can I leave the husband of my lost mother, he-" who has instructed me in all the lore and mythology of the Maori; he whose traditional- ancestry runs back to the gods. Their abode was far j Hawaiki, and their blood has never been tainted .by the plebeian." Again came the f Piko: "Now, lay Rito — bow Is the time. If you fail me now I depart in silence forever." In that extreme sh-e came 1 out, by the low doorway of the whare and gave her hand to the yotra&, .man. He took her..up in his arms as though, 'she were but a child. H«. felt the softness of her body against his'fiinewy >arms and breast. Lightly . he stepped between - the faintly- . seen whares of the toa and rangatira, his rivals for Rito's love. The savage dags gave bark, and sank to sleep as he passed. The cliff path, *ain£ly lighted , now hy the misted,' waning moon, was' safe for their descent, and once upon the smooth sand just above the breaking sea they hurried forwafcT. He brought her to a sandy spit above the river bar, where, held by a stout flax line, his canoe was waiting. I/ig'htly she stepped aboard, and soon he pushed away from shore, sprang aboard, and paddled vigorously/ Now the canoe rose and rocked as hei prow met the incoming sea. Rito held the paddle that served 36 helm, and' Piko, superhuman in his exultation, fought'his way to sea. Off shore he set hei prow for the sou-west, where beneath the etarp the ghostly headlands loomed dim in the night. The Ion& shore roll came muffled and faint, and the far inland mountain range, stood serrated against the western 'horizon. Two nights and three 'ong, silent days on the sea. The lovers sa awhile in. each other's anna, or slept fitfully in turn, to waken and toil again. Southward, southward still, the long v o ll oi the surge on the rocks to the right hand, the open sea to the left, the headlands looming dimly before and sinking slowly astern "Oh, my Piko! we shall perish by this desolate and barren 'and, where no food nor shelter may be found. Why did you bring me out from security and 'uxury to this? Had you loved me as you swear that you do you would have left me to rx cared for and loved at home." Then th<» moisture would gather to the young man's eyes and the sweat to his forehead, and, lastly faint for want of food, he would struggle at the paddle until the girl's soft arms were aroundhim again and her warm kiss on his face. The sun was sinking down hi splendour beyond the ridges of the dim blue hilts. But the glory was nothing to Rito. Despair made more melancholy hei chill face. Her shining eyes looked for smoke or habitation, but saw only the unchanging, ever-restless, sinking, rising, greygreen sea and the dark-wooded bluff of

a ( rugged land. Piko lay across his i paddle, his sable, shaggy head - thrown bock, 'bis throat and bosom bare, and , hi* muscles twitching as if he would still paddle on. "Ah! vain is all effort," thought the young woman. "Years and years of hardship only end in the awful silence which none can break, and the warrior Vho slays many enemies and t*he infant who passes ere he knoweth lather and mother are lv» one at the laet/' When- Piko roused again his Rito slept. Hi* paddle was soon at work again. The slaty-grey of da-wn revealed- a, headland that ran far' seaward, and tJhe white bluffs that girt the' bay promised a pleasant shelter. He ran his canoe aground

in a ferny cove. The stream came down through the, mossy stones. The small white rata trellieed the giant trees. The mutted ruma-ruma, malboe, and lesser undergrowth hid unnumbered ferns, mosses, and lichens. The weka- came oat to stand agaze, his a.uick, brown head held sideways at the intruder. While Rito lay exhausted in the canoe V.-r young man snared some lcdkas, kindled ; si fire, and prepared a dainty breakfast 'While fche -slept again he set to work, r.ul during the day, well above high-ai-er mark, in the dry, drifted- sand < me he bad dug put a partial Shelter. . Over this he built a network of poke, a:d covered it thickly with long 1 strip*/ cf manuka bark. In the late evening he made a torch of dried flax-blades, and, armed with a sharp-pointed stick, he waded up and down the' shallow waters of the stream -and secured enough flounders for several meals.

• • • • The r.:ooiis that measure the lapse of early married love were numbered, and now in all her splendour the moon shone upon the npwaanl sloping woods, the downward sloping sands, tEe little wavelets that played and plashed almost to the ngaio and matipo. Within his whare, bent and haggard, the father feared for the lives of his love .and his first-born. What to him was the splendour of t : he moon or sea, or foliage and sand. and. the sublimity of the snow-fields flanked, by the W>le forest of the south"! Re he!d

the little, fluttering life in his arms, and yearned in dumb agony to the dread Power in whose hands are life and death. At last she rallied, and with a wan sroik held up her arms for the babe. Be kissed her cold face and chafed her trembling

hands ; he set warm stones to her chilly feet : he stepped^ out uito the newec glory of the night: untenable wa«^the beauty over forest, stream, and sea. \ Soon the little one became more than life to the two of whose lives he seemed the compound. Each morning he seemed to waken to a marvellous world. He felt

the mystery, of forest and mountain, rustling foliage and wind-stirred water from infancy ; nor could little lively*" brothers and sUters win him from his solitary yearning. Often his eyes turned to the .«ea. far-6pread to the north-east, and often he would look* at the upturned canoe in the sand and ask how it came there, N and who had built it. His father only ventured about the bay in a very light skiff, and chore to keep within the wooded parts of the hills.

Majestic, stern, yet with high, longabidirrg. chastening sorrow still lingering or. hi i face, wa.s the white-headed, brownskinnud, wrinkled man with the endle?? tatoo spirals on his forehead, oheeks, and^ nose, who surprised the little ones when they awoke early one summer's morning, and that day they heard the story of how, long before, tneir father had left his home in the north with their dear mother to try his fortune in solitude. Iri later years others came from the north, and to this day the remains of tlmr fortress homes may be seen above the olififc. of that limestone, sheltered bay.

Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/OW19091117.2.295

Bibliographic details

Otago Witness, Issue 2905, 17 November 1909, Page 87

Word Count
1,460

SHORT STORIES. Otago Witness, Issue 2905, 17 November 1909, Page 87

SHORT STORIES. Otago Witness, Issue 2905, 17 November 1909, Page 87

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