He walked boldly up to old Maru's house, and found it still asleep.
The old man started up wide awake at his call, and the look on his face was a matrix of Blair's—detected wrong quailing before righteous wrath.
"You know what I have come about, Maru," said Blair. "You have done ill by Aia. Why?"
"It was the young men. They desired more goods."
"Call the young men. I will speak to them."
But there was no need to call them. They had seen the Torch and were coming, and coming in expectation of possible trouble, for they all came armed.
"Yes, I see you know why I have come back," said Blair, as they thronged about the house. "You have done wrong, and you have got to answer for it. We came here to make life brighter by bringing peace——"
"We don't want peace. Fighting is very much better," growled one.
"Oh, you are brave men! How many men were there on Aia? Twenty-five at most. And how many of you went over? More than sixty. Oh yes, you like fighting when the others are weak. How will you like it when you are beaten and running for your lives into the hills? You have done ill, and you must answer for it. Maru and Kahili will come with me to Kapaa'a, and we will decide what shall be done."
"Not me!" said old Maru, or words to that effect, and drew from its hiding-place one of the axes Blair had given him, and began to swing it gently in his hand.