“Funniest damned thing I've ever struck,” said Bill Cummings to Katherine his wife when he got home. “I come over that rise into the dip by Jim Stace's place—you know where that swamp was that Old Man Stace drained, where Jim stuck an eight-wire barb fence in to keep old Tawhiti's pigs out of his bottom paddock—And I seen a kinda mist in the dip, not a white mist but a grey kinda mist. Well, I was doin’ about 50 more or less when I got to the bottom and just as I went into the fog I seen a Maori joker damn near stark naked with a dirty great spear thing in his hand. I seen him as clear as I see you now and I seen him heave the spear straight at the car and I'll swear that I heard him yell as I went past. Well I swung to the right and jammed on the brakes and did those tyres scream! I was over the hill before I knew where I was and then I turned round in Jim's gateway and went back. Well, I couldn't see a thing. No one was there. Even the mist was gone. I had a look in the scrub but I only woke a blackbird which gave me a hell of a fright. Anyway one of them chrome cross-pieces on the front bumper's gone And I found this stuck in the grille.” He tossed a sharp-point, six-inch piece of wood on to the kitchen table.

TE AO TAWHITO: KA TAHURI Tera tetahi kainga ko Mokai-te-Ure te ingoa, kei te taha hikuwai o te Moana o Taupo. Nga hapu o tenei wahanga o Tuwharetoa ko Te Kohera Wairangi, ko Haa, ko Tarakaiahi Whaita, ko Parekawa. Ina tona korero “Ko Tuaropaki te Maunga, ko te Kohera te hapu, ko te Paerata te tangata.” Ko nga Paerata enei o te pakanga ki Orakau a Rewi Maniapoto. Ko te whare runanga ko Pakahe. Ko te oranga nui o nga tangata o Mokai, na roto mai i nga mahi mira rakau a te kamupene “The Taupo Totara Timber Company”. I te wa e nui ana nga rakau tino nui te mahi me te ora hoki o te tangata. He tini nga iwi o te motu i whakaeke ki tenei marae, i nga hui nunui, me nga tangi mate. Ko te Kaupapa whakahaere o enei hui, penei na:— Whakaroputia ai nga tangata mahi, he putia etahi, he kuki etahi, he weita etahi. He pirihimana ano to te marae, i raro i te mana kaunihera, hei whakatikatika i nga mahi o te marae. Kaore he paamu hei whakawhirinakitanga atu mo to miiti. Haere tonu ai nga tangata ki te koraha ki te hopu poaka a ki te hopu kau puihi. Te whakatakoto kai, kaore he rereketanga o te parakuihi, te tina, te kai o te ahiahi, me te hapa, kai hangi, me etahi atu kai runga ki nga tepu katoa. Te powhiri i nga ope eke mai ma te Ruahina Reweti raua ko te Moana Papanui. Ko nga kaumatua ko Paerata, ko Tuiri Takiwa, ko Hapu Te Kohika, ko Nguha Huirama, ko Pukerau te Kupu, ko Hakopa Te Hiko, ko Ha Moetu, ko Toriwai Wereta. Haruru ana te marae, mau ana te wehi me te ihi. I te po ko nga tangata whenua ki tetahi taha o Pakake ko te manuhiri ki tetahi. He karakia te mea tuatahi, ko nga mihi ko nga whai korero, i muri iho ko nga mahi ngahau a te rangatahi tae atu ana ki a Koopu i te ata. Hei te hokinga o nga iwi ka whakakiia nga waka ki te kai hei oranga ki te huarahi. Kei te mokemoke a Pakake i tenei ra. Kua kore he mira mahi rakau, kua ngaro nga kaumatua, kua korara nga uri i te whainga i nga mahi o te motu hei oranga mo nga tinana. Tu kotahi ana te whare, te ohaki tauira, hei pupuri i nga tikanga. E koro, Pakake, tena koe. Kua tahuri te ao tawhito.