Yet, even as he thought of them, lo, he heard their voices, and was back at the spot where he had left them. And they ate and drank and were merry, knowing nought, for they had neither seen nor heard anything, so that Te Turi might have thought that he had fallen asleep and dreamed, but for the mat of kiwi feathers and the greenstone club and the parts of the great Thing.
And so they six returned to Te Ika A Maui, taking with them many pieces of greenstone and other good things, and so they came home. And Te Turi made mats out of the skin of the Thing; and one he gave to Ngahue, and one to Te Weri, and one to Te Waerau, and one to his wife, and one he made for himself. Yet was there enough left to make mats for all his children who came afterwards, of whom there were ten.
But the greenstone mere with the finger-prints of TUMATAUENGA Te Turi kept for himself, and as often as he looked at it, so often did he wonder at the prophecy which the god had spoken with the gift. But at last, remembering that the mere was to pass to his children's children, he ceased from troubling upon a matter which he could not mend.
And Te Turi lived long and fought many good fights, being worsted in none. And in the fulness of time this mighty chief passed to join his ancestors, and the mere of TUMATAUENGA and the prophecy he bequeathed to his son and to his son's son after him through all time, until at last they came down to me who tell the tale of them.
CHAPTER VII
STORM SIGNALS
Valuable as he knew the greenstone mere to be, both intrinsically and on account of its romantic history, it was with a new and deeper interest that George regarded it at the conclusion of Te Kaihuia's legend of its origin. Of course the story of its supernatural appearance and manufacture was a fairy-tale which—he gave an unmistakable start, and a grim smile curled the thin lips of the old Maori, who was watching him intently.
There, on the narrow end, or handle, of the club were three deeply set impressions, which exactly resembled the imprint of two fingers and a thumb.
The mineral nephrite, or greenstone, is singularly hard and unyielding, and how these peculiar marks came to be made upon the club George concluded to leave to the antiquaries to solve; for, needless to say, the old chief's version of their cause counted for nothing with him. But he was far too courteous to allow his incredulity to appear before the venerable narrator, whom he warmly thanked as he rose to take his leave.
Te Kaihuia took the young fellow's strong hand in both his own.