One by one the people bade him adieu, and then stood apart while he said farewell to Luita.
"E MAHINA TOLU [Only three months], little one," he said, "why such a gloomy face?"
The girl shook her head, and her mouth twitched. "But the MITI [dream], Paranili—the MITI of my mother. She is wise in the things that are hidden; for she is one of those who believe in the old gods of Vahitahi.... And there are many here of the new LOTU [Faith, i.e. Christianity] who yet believe in the old gods. And, see, she has dreamed of this unknown evil to thee twice; and twice have the voices of those who are silent in the MARAE called to me in the night, and said: 'He must not go; he must not go.'"
Knowing well how the old superstitious taint ran riot in the imaginative native mind, Brantley did not attempt to reason, but sought to gently disengage her hands from his arm.
She dropped on the sand at his feet and clasped his knees, and a long, wailing note of grief rang out—
"AUE! AUE! my husband! if it so be that thou dost not heed the voices that call in the night, then, out of thy love for me and our child, let me come also. Then, if evil befall thee, let us perish together."
Brantley raised his hand and pointed to the bowed and weeping figure. Some women came and lifted her up. Then taking the tender face between his rough hands, he bent his head to hers, sprang into the boat, and was gone.
II
With ten tons of shell snugly stowed in her hold, the little Tamariki was heading back for Vahitahi after barely two months' absence. Brantley, as he leant over the rail and watched the swirl and eddy of the creamy phosphorescence that hissed and bubbled under the vessel's stern, felt well satisfied.