While I was filling my coat pockets I heard footsteps coming down the rock from the ledge above, and soon afterwards Kahikatea strode forward into the light, with the sword of the early explorer between his teeth and Grey’s rifle in his hand.
“Are they coming?” he asked coolly.
“Yes, fifty or sixty of them,” I said. “Where is she?”
“Waiting on the ledge above. But I don’t know where Grey and his wife are. I don’t think they know anything about this.”
“THE SECOND MAORI THAT ENTERED WITH AXE UPRAISED HAD HIS HEAD CUT CLEAN OFF BY THE FIRST SWEEPING BACK STROKE.”
I looked up through the darkness, and saw the vague, white form of Hinauri standing on the ledge above.
“We can do better up there,” I said; “we can see without being seen—come!”
“All right, you go first.”
Feeling it was foolish to waste time I complied, and made my way up the rock, thinking Kahikatea was close on my heels. But he made Tiki follow me with the kit of cartridges, and before he himself set his foot in the first niche there was a chorus of yells immediately without.