'Have you caught them?' he said thickly, congratulating himself that the darkness and the mat about his shoulders would prevent immediate recognition.
'No hea?' grumbled a Hau-hau. The words, meaning literally 'from whence?' imply in Maori phraseology that the thing inquired for is nowhere. It was an admission that the superstitious fellows did not expect to retake the fugitives.
'Hortoni, indeed, is under the protection of TUMATAUENGA,' growled another. 'Else would the Hawk have slain him ere now.'
'But Hortoni has lost the mere—so they say,' returned George, quickening his pace a little, so as to pass the talkative Maori.
'Na! the mere of TUMATAUENGA cannot be lost,' a third observed sententiously as George drew ahead of him. 'By this time Hortoni again wears it by his side. Ehara! It is extraordinary, and I do not know why ATUA should favour a Pakeha. But so it is. Ea!' he grunted disgustedly. 'In my opinion Hortoni is a god. Who can prevail against a god?'
The first part of this speech was so true that George felt once more that curious thrill which had so often affected him when the greenstone club was in question. The last part shocked him and, forgetful of his assumed character, he impetuously contradicted the astounded speaker.
'Fool! I am no god,' he cried. 'There is but one God, the God of the Pakehas, and He——'
The next moment he was flying for his life across the tree bridge and down the hill, while the Maoris, ignoring in their turn his presumed divinity, scampered after him, their yells blending with the shouts of those who had already reached the plain.
Stumbling and slipping, George dashed along the track, bruising himself badly against a hundred obstacles, but grimly silent lest by any outcry he should drag his friends back into danger. Far behind him he could hear the voice of the arch-liar Te Karearea calling to him that the greenstone club had been found, and that all would be well if he would return. Once he collided with a Hau-hau who rose suddenly from behind a boulder; but his ready wit saved him, and the two ran side by side to the bottom of the hill, where George branched off to the right.
'Go that way, my friend, and I will go this,' he cried. 'We will meet at the bridge and scoop in the Pakehas as with a net.'