“My companions are English like myself. We are shipwrecked travelers, but it may be important to state that we have taken no part in the war.”
“That matters little!” was the brutal answer of Kara-Tete. “Every Englishman is an enemy. Your people invaded our island! They robbed our fields! they burned our villages!”
“They were wrong!” said Glenarvan, quietly. “I say so, because I think it, not because I am in your power.”
“Listen,” said Kai-Koumou, “the Tohonga, the chief priest of Noui-Atoua has fallen into the hands of your brethren; he is a prisoner among the Pakekas. Our deity has commanded us to ransom him. For my own part, I would rather have torn out your heart, I would have stuck your head, and those of your companions, on the posts of that palisade. But Noui-Atoua has spoken.”
As he uttered these words, Kai-Koumou, who till now had been quite unmoved, trembled with rage, and his features expressed intense ferocity.
Then after a few minutes’ interval he proceeded more calmly.
“Do you think the English will exchange you for our Tohonga?”
Glenarvan hesitated, all the while watching the Maori chief.
“I do not know,” said he, after a moment of silence.
“Speak,” returned Kai-Koumou, “is your life worth that of our Tohonga?”