'There must be an explanation,' said George doggedly.
'Say, rather, that, like all your unimaginative race, you refuse to believe in anything you cannot understand. If there is nothing exceptional about the club, why is Te Karearea so anxious to get it?'
'It is, of course, surrounded with traditions,' began George, and suddenly sprang up and darted round the tree in time to see a dark figure bounding away into the bush. Pursuit was useless, so George returned to their fire, expressing his conviction that the eavesdropper had been Te Karearea.
'As I said, he attaches importance to the club, if you don't,' was Terence's comment.
'More likely he came here to learn what he could about you,' George argued; 'for I don't believe in his protestation of ignorance of English.'
'All the same, you follow the old man's advice, and never let that club be far from you,' urged Terence.
'Well, it is a singular fact that the moment of my greatest peril was just after I had been deprived of the mere,' admitted George.
'Yet even that peril was averted.'
'Yes; and I do not understand why. From the moment of our meeting, Te Karearea has treated me with great consideration, and—though it may sound absurd—has sometimes seemed afraid of me. Not, of course, in a physical sense. There is something incomprehensible at work.'
'Perhaps he still hopes to convert you to his views.'