Then Tamate found his way back to his hammock and fell asleep.
Aveo came to him another night. This time he brought his sleeping-mat with him. His white friend was going away next morning, and Aveo wished to sleep beside him, or rather to stay beside him, for he did not try to sleep. He talked eagerly of a voyage he had made to Motu-motu and of the kindness that Mr. and Mrs. Lawes had shown him. All at once he stopped and began to sing to himself sadly.
Tamate said, “Aveo, what are you doing? Why have you left off your story so suddenly?”
Aveo pointed to the north. “When I see those two stars,” he said, “I always do this. My father taught me. I know the spirit of the sea hears me. May I go on?”
“Yes, go on.”
After the song was over, Aveo told Tamate about the spirits of the earth and the sea and the sky, till morning came.
When Tamate left Motu-motu to go far west to the wildest tribes of all, who lived near the Fly River, Aveo still trusted in his charms and in his songs to the spirits of the earth and sky and sea.
Many years afterwards, Tamate came back from the Fly River to see his old friends and to cheer the teachers who lived in the villages along the shore. When he reached the village where Aveo lived, the news of his coming spread quickly, and Aveo hurried to the teacher’s house to see his old friend. After they had greeted each other, Aveo said, “What about those things, Tamate?”
“What things?”
“Why, have you forgotten them?”