CHAPTER XIV
MAGIC, BLACK AND WHITE
The gods of the old religion were good enough for Kapua Mangu, who detested the blasphemous absurdities of Hau-hauism, and he had brought Te Karearea, the backslider, to the underground haunt—known, he believed, only to himself—partly to convince him that the arms of these same old gods were still powerful, and partly for another reason.
Actuated by the first of these motives, he had produced his very strongest card at the outset of the interview, and flung at the chief the dried body of a tuatara, a large and harmless lizard, indigenous to New Zealand.
Yet this was quite enough to overthrow the nerve of a strong, clever man, and render him weak and impotent from actual fear. For in such terror do the Maoris hold all lizards, that the mere pronunciation of the word Ngara, a generic term for the whole race, makes the bravest warrior tremble.
The deep-voiced command of Kapua Mangu arrested the flight of the chief, and, as if the sight of the demon on the ground were not sufficient, the old man, with pointing finger, asked in a terrifying screech: 'Where, O Hawk of the Mountain, where is the mere of TUMATAUENGA?'
Te Karearea started, but before he could reply, the venerable mystic flung his arms above his head and chanted in his fine, sonorous voice the race-old prophecy of the greenstone club:—
'Behold! In the days to come a strange, strong race
Shall contend with the Maori.
Ah! Then shall the days be full of evil and danger
For the house of Te Turi.
'And behold! In those days of unrest and contention
One of the House of Te Turi shall give to one of the strong,
strange race
The mere of TUMATAUENGA.
Aue! Aue! Alas for the House of Te Turi.
Aue! Aue! Then shall the doom and the end
Of the House of Te Turi be nigh!
'But behold! If the stranger cleave to the race of the Maori,
If he give back of his own free will to one of the House of
Te Turi
The mere of TUMATAUENGA,
Then shall the House of Te Turi arise again from the dust.
Only thus shall the doom be averted!'