CHAPTER I.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7787, 19 August 1903, Page 4

CHAPTER I.

; -. One glorious morning in April, having ■■ 'finished his breakfast on the laaai, l>n Karl Furtzhofor stood, booted ahd spurred,, openiilff the binds leather flaps of his pocket cases to assure himself that each . tiny vial contained its quota of •cnnotti--trated relief. Slipping tlw emergency cases into his pockets, he .took out a- small zed morocco note-book, and reviewed his «nffa.gpment3 for tie day. Ka.\venta<nu's baby— meningitis. Mrs Pualau: Adaans— • complicated: hysteria. Poicoi— measles.Samoan'girl, at the hat-makers' settlement —dog bite. Lunch with' deer Theresa-. Below the luncheon engagement was a blur-" ted note concerning golf at' Moanaleua; but it would certainly be too worm. Furtzhofcr put up the memoranda* mounted his horse, and rode down to the .embowered gateway. As ho turned into' the- road! a voice 1 hailed him, and Loki, the guardian of his childhood, his native .nurse, ran up gasping. ; "Hello!" he exclaimed cheerily. "In town to-day, hey? Go in and tVll l-iln to give* you a drink of gin-; it's ox- the 1 sideboard. " Loki shook heir head. "TJiank yui, not : now. Oh, Aka, we have pilikias- -iT-mb'ts v —up the valley. Five are ckad :il;eauy byt »nana, and two are sick. -They would not ■jrlhaTe me come, but I told thorn h' w the -kauka's father had been the greaaist dector that ever lived. I kept on telling +h» m until they have madd answer thst youf must oame and help. They will keep! nothing back from you." ■ , . She spoke all in one breath, as oie kav- - ing learned a speech by heart. '■ : - Karl's spirits leaped with delight. At last he would be able to study ;J;e «ysterious working of the death prayers— lhel terrible incantation that subtly and sorely annihilates an enemy, by what ]wwer tb* gods af ancient Hawaii alono oan tell. •" Truly, yes, . I will come." he an^veved' gravely. "Tuna," he called to !he StaMe boy, ' r put Fussy to the runabout, and! Happaihaolie back into his stall. My- I tier. .-jvatieiits will h«ve to wait." He smiled -at his old nurse as sl»o waddled beside him to the house, has umple form swaying from side to side in its wonderful cabbage-patterned purple 1-ol.okn. "And now, my dea.r," he went on. "*st fcerc on fche steps amd tell me «U about' •■■ theso people. "Who are they? Not your own family, I know, because then you! ■would be in a black mother hubbard and sporting ten inches of crape on your hat — ' you always did love style.!" Loki grinned and patted the young man's : • knee fondly. r"True, true." she said, speaking in Eng- <. lish ; " noi:. my peopK Karlii I—not1 — not y-et — but my sister Liltha is very sick. Pnins here nml !:«re." Slw plawd onei ha,nd upon her stomach and the o-ther to hey brow. "She get into quarrel be-cause whea Neula, the kahuna, coma the last time to tliw house of Kaaln, my sister t-ell her it was wickedn-oss and sin that .she pray. ij»i6o?iit ones to drath because she kuxe ill-feeling to th-e family. Ntnihv luni on her «-.nd say : ' Whe-n I am doiw with this one^" I pxay v you down, also,' Lililia coins toll me, for she very irightuned. Pretty soon Kaala «lie, quick, be-cause ST-°ula look at her througfli tho window. Tlien my sister comet tick. She ory all niglit a«d no sleep, be-' eau^ she 'fraid Neula get her.. D.-iytime-all samo, cry, cry. Twice every day the ''■- kahuna come. Walk by house, ajid look. Lilihn., she scTeam and cry out that shc< ■going <lio sure. H«r mail, tnlk to ler, I talk, a<nd we send for the minister eonx?' talk — no good. She get more sick and ' more sick. Them I tell her: 'I go get my kauka's son. His father was a great kahuna-, and for many year Karli-e go learn be ai kfliukOj himself iii other coun- ., tries. 1 He speak native, lie knows native. uiuji, and he will sovo for the sake of old Lokivwho nur.so him when ho little boy." •'Wh>> is this Xeula':' asl«d Karl, desply interested. " Neula? Sho is the daughter of Mo, "who was kahuna on Lanai. She fall in. love with Amosa Brown — hnppahaolie, half -.vhite; but Kaala's sifter, she take' him «.way from her. Tjca Xeula, ■ slie -pray first Amosa Brown to -death, then she • una-na Alikn. then Kanla, and the father

and mother, and the cousin Louika, -who lived with them. She swear' J&e kill all the family, every on«. My sister, and a Kaaaka, named Sola, they say to -Neuki, they going to tell Marshal 'Brown and havo her arrested. Now Sola and Liliha both very, very sick. Ready go now?" she asked, as Karl sprang to his feet. "Yes," he answered, flushed with excitement. " Here is the runabout. You want a ' pros'l ' first, eh?" Ho led the old woman into the diningroom, and poured out o tumblerful of neatgin. iS'iie tossed it down her &pen throat wtkoufc winking. "Ale! Good!" "Come on, Loki, my overblown rose!" said the doctor. He assisted her bulky form, to the sent, took his place beside her in the trap, and the sturdy young trotter swung forward. They spun along the soft park road of Knpiolaiii, by th'©> race-track and barracks, toward ths hiils. When they reached the valley rosd it proved to b'i as stony, muddy and impalpable as only a Hawaiian road caai be; but they clattered and bumped 6vi>r it «fc a stood pace. Palalo Valley is surrounded on all sides, except seaward, by cliffs of lava, thinly covered wjth' ferns and a. low growth of w-oods and mo?s. A slr'p of rich, wellwatered land lies in the centre, with here and there native houses lost in clusters of bausna and papnia trees. The picturesque hnti of the Chinese market-gardeners occupy cadi dry island in the grecoi «?a of new-grown rice and lily-leaved taro. There is nor. a- w-hite nn;n in the valley, and its human census would 'hardly pass a hundred. It makes little difference to the outer world what £oes on up that rough path, fit only for the us*; of lean buckskin ponies, or the soft pat, pat. of bare feet' of Celestials as they trot along under the weight of laden baskets, swung from the end"? of jolting shoulder poks. ' At last thej- reached their destination — ■a hut. set back from the road Jn a neglected garden.' Gloom hung about the place. The. trees were withered. The yellow pony staring over the fence was rick and lame. The house dog hardly raised his head as the stranger came in. at the gate that hung listlessly op-en. Loki, leading the way, Karl mounted the rickety steps and entered the- main room. The woman on the bed was a young and comely counterpart of her. sister. She might once have possessed the cheerful embonpoint of the nurse, but fear and pickness had wasted her form, till it lay upon the bed a huddled brown skeleton. Her great Polynesian e3^es shone like twin black stars ; the heavy, red-tinged, black hair lay bound ia two silky braids, contrasting by its luxuriance and vitality with the emaciation of the face. "This is the kauka Furtzhofer's son, Liliha," said Loki, gently. " He is a kauka, too; and his father was a great kahuna. He says he can cure you, so tell him everything. I will go."' She stepped, out upon the lanai. threw herself among the red pillows, aud crouched, watching the door. Karl sat down by the bed in a matter-of-fact way, took the patient's hand in his, and noted her temperature and pulse, while appearing to administer only a comforting caress. "Fever," he commented inwardly. He glanced at thtf shrunken jaws. "This has been going on for some time. Wonder if it is too" late." " Tell me," he said aloud in the native speech,. " have you don© evil to your neighbour ? Have you taken that 'which is not yours, or' spoken ill of anyone without justification?" The woman shook her bead. "No," ?»he answered weakly. .( "It is not that ; it is anana." "Yes!" he nodded. "What is your quarrel?" The woman's face twitched nervously. "I spoke in anger to Neula. She had prayed five to death in one household ; the last was but a child, who had done her no harm. She had killed Amosa and Alika. Was that not eriough ?" "Where. is the Bible?" he asked. She turned her eyes in the, direction of the .little table by the bed. Karl picked up a worn volume, a translation in the native tongue. He opened it at random, glanced down the page, eelected a verse, and read aloud : " Though I wajk in the- valley of the Shadow of Death, I will fear no evil." The woman's eyes had followed his movements anxiously, as if fearing some fatal verdict. While h* read her eyes cleared and her mouth relaxed. * " Fear no evil," she murmured. "You s«e," said the doctor gently, as he put back the book, " you are to have no fear." He knew what store the Hawaiian's set upon this mode of reading the future, and was confident that Liliha would gain courage from the favourable augury. He let her rest a few moments, then proceeded with his inquiries., "Tell me, wliat has this Nenla done to you?" " She came the first time," she answered with i a shudder, "on the day that Kaala died. I had said that I, with my cousin, would go to the marshal and tell him what she had done " Liliha stopped with a gasp, and rolled over in sudden agony. 1 " Oh, oh !" she screamed, r The pain !." The doctor leaned over, looked at the blood-shot eyes, forced apart the set teeth, and looked at the swollen tongue. "H'm! 1 " he said shortly, watching with dawning comprehension the agonised struggles of the wasted form before him. The paroxysm passad as quickly as it had come ; the woman fell back silent and exhausted, while the sweat broke out all over her. suffering body. Karl turned to Loki, Avho stood at the door, summoned by ]:** sister's screams. ' " What has she eatan ':" he asked.

''Nothing but poi.and fish, that is all," the nurse answered. " I made the poi myself." " What kind of fish 1" the crcss-esaminav continued. "Any kind we caw get. Our nephew goes every day to work at Waikiki beach, and ■ ptopji long enough each night to spear something for Liliha." " Have the rest of you ever eaten of the fish brought for her?"' She shook her h«td. "Good!" ho replied. " Xnw listen. She must cat no more of this 1 gift; hut Jet it be brought 'cveiy day. Lot everyone think that she eats it. Wrap the next on© up and give it to m;. Make the poi yourself each day and wash the bewl well with water, into 'which you must melt, the powder I will give you. I think I can see to what your prophetess owes the answer to her prayers. Your Nculu, my dear L-oki, is, in my opinion, a first-days reincarnatirn of Lucretia Borgia. You.dQn't know the lady, do you? Well, if she had bsem born on the island of Oahu she would have been a" most- successful anauaii-t. And] now., Loki, tell mo where the enchantress lives.'