“It is Ka-meha-meha the sacred,” the Maui warriors cried; “the gods are in him. Kaili, the war god, strikes through his arms. We cannot fight against the gods.”
So they made way for the whirlwind warrior as he helped his friend to the sea. In a few moments they were in a waiting canoe making their escape to Hawaii.
Ka-meha-meha came from this battle an idolised [[128]]chief. He fulfilled Carlyle’s definition of “King”—“König,” “the man who can”—the man who, after the battle, would be “lifted upon his comrades’ shields and hailed as hero.” From that time the young giant was a recognised leader. His position was substantially the same as that of the king’s own sons.
This was a sore defeat for the king of Hawaii. He was humiliated and angry. His self-love and ambition were sorely stricken, but he did not pour out his wrath upon his followers. He cheered them and encouraged them to prepare for new endeavours.
He called upon the high chiefs of the various districts of his island for a more thorough preparation of men and war supplies, that with a new and larger army he might make complete subjugation of Maui.
This was in 1775, at the same time that in America the “Boston tea party” and Battle of Bunker’s Hill were being followed by the struggle for freedom on the part of England’s colonies. In England, King George was calling upon Parliament for advice and funds wherewith to subdue the blood brothers in America. Both King George and King Kalaniopuu were equally obstinate in the determination to rule the lands across the waters.
The chiefs devoted all the energies of their districts to the preparation for the new war. [[129]]
The warriors went up into the mountains to find the Kauila—the spear tree—that they might cut down and dry the wood for spears and war clubs and daggers.
The lava ledges were searched for the hardest pa-hoe-hoe—the fine-grained, compact lava, well fitted for tools with which to hew out and smooth the many new canoes needed. The stone age is not so very far away from to-day—in some parts of the world. The forests were searched for the best trees from which canoes could be made. The sound of stone axes and adzes rang throughout the land. Hundreds of workmen hewed and scraped and other hundreds polished, until at last a large fleet of canoes and a vast quantity of weapons were prepared.
The fishermen made new offerings to their gods. Large quantities of fish were caught and dried for the commissary department of the new army.