“They did not kill you, but did you eat anything there?”
“Oh yes, plenty.”
“You should not have done that. They will have poisoned you.”
When the natives of Suau saw that Tamate Vaine stayed alone with them when her husband went away, they were delighted. They said to each other:
“They trust us, we must treat them kindly. They cannot mean us harm, or Tamate would not have left his wife behind.”
They used to beg her to eat a great deal, so that her husband would know that they had treated her well.
But the fever that seizes so many people there had weakened Mrs. Chalmers. Her spirit was so brave and strong that neither she nor any one else knew how ill she was.
Once Tamate went for a long walk on the mainland across the water from Suau. He wished to find out if it would be wise to send teachers far inland amongst the mountains. On this walk an old chief was leader of the party. They needed him to show them the way across the mountains, but the chief was eager to help in other ways that seemed to him more useful.
It was a bright sunny morning when they set out, and merry laughter and shouts rose from the travellers. Soon they came to a spot where a woman had died. The laughter died away. With solemn faces the chief and his men tore down branches from the trees and ran on brushing their feet with the branches, to keep the spirit of the dead woman from tripping them up. When they passed that bit of road, the run quieted down to a walk. Then rain began to fall. Again the chief took the care of the journey on his head. He scolded the rain and bade it be gone.
They spent the night in a little village. Tamate tried to sleep, but ever through his sleep he heard his guide’s voice telling of the strange doings of the white man and of the great “war-canoe” that had called at Suau.