And thrilling notes of woodland shells
Stir every heart with tuneful cheer.
Heaven’s blue is turmoiled with fire-clouds—
Boiling fountains of flame and cinder—
Such the form we give to our message:
Will he heed it, or turn a deaf ear?
Ah, you see, he scorns our entreaty.
Be valiant! now forward to battle!
Hé-he-hé-e-e!
Thus chanting their battle-mele (mele ka’i kaua), these gods of an old-time mythology marched, or flew, with resolute purpose to their task of rescuing Hiiaka and her little band and of ridding the land, at one and the same stroke, of their old entrenched foe, Pana-ewa. Heaven and earth stirred at their onset. The visible signs of their array were manifest in columns of seething fire-shot clouds that hovered like vultures over the advancing army. Arrived at striking distance, they let loose their lightning-bolts and sounded their thunder-gongs. Earth and heaven at once became turmoiled in one confused whirl of warring elements.