The sailors, as they rowed on, talked to each other in a manner not flattering either to Cazotl or his crew, but I sat silent. Two things troubled me. Had that lithe negro tracked me through the bush, and, if so, why? And where had I set eyes on Cazotl’s face before? His yacht had been seen some weeks since in l’Astrolabe Roads, which locality was not far either from Te Makawawa’s pa or from the place where I first landed from Wakatu. A shudder ran through me as I asked myself if it was possible that the Thug-like creature I had just seen had tracked me from the moment when I landed until now. In answer to my question there came into my mind that far-away laugh which I could not understand, as in each case it had followed some false step or semi-exposure of someone near at hand. The more I thought the more I was convinced that I had been tracked by this thing with the evil face; and, as it dawned upon me that, if it was so, there must be some connection between that fact and the appearance of the yacht down there near our destination, I felt forebodings which I could not dispel. I was aroused from these dark thoughts only to be plunged into darker by Tiki, who, gazing steadily after Cazotl’s boat, remarked: “Wanaki! if that taepo[21] catches the little maiden he will roast her in the oven. Oa! I have heard the ariki say, ‘Beware of the children of the Great Woman of Death and Darkness; and by this you shall know them: they have the gleam of the red fire in their eyes.’ ”
It was dark when the two sailors landed us at the head of the Sound, and made their way back to their ship. As far as one could see by the uncertain light of the stars, the rugged characteristics of the place here sloped off into rounded hills enclosing a broad, fertile valley, which widened out considerably before being lost among the hills inland. There were banks of trees not more than a quarter of a mile up the valley, and there I concluded we should find Grey’s house.
It was not very long before we struck a path leading up from the water. This, as we followed it, took us through green fields, where sheep and horses were grazing. Then before us we saw the great banks of trees. Coming at last to some slip bars beneath high blue-gums, we gained a square enclosure some acres in extent, in the midst of which, embowered in trees, we discerned vaguely the gables of a house. In the upstairs window of the gable facing us a light was showing through the close-drawn blind. Someone was going to bed.
Our path led us round an umbrageous orchard and brought us out on to a well-kept lawn, where, passing beneath some cedars which stood apart, their boughs moving gently between us and the stars as they whispered in the night wind, we approached the picturesque old country house.
“You stay here beneath the trees,” I said to Tiki, thinking his appearance might frighten the inmates; “and I will come for you presently.”
Then, finding my way round the verandah, I sought out the front door and knocked. Presently, through the glass panel at the side of the door, I saw a light approaching along the hall, and a moment later the door was opened by a tall man with a candle in his hand.
“Are you Mr. Grey?” I asked, recognising him from Te Makawawa’s description—a soldierly man with curling hair, brown eyes, and short, black moustache.
“That is my name,” he replied, holding the candle up and scanning my face.
I said, “I am a stranger to you, but I come from Jim Crichton, whom I met in the Karamea; and I have something important to tell you.”
“From Jim Crichton!” he said, with pleased surprise. “You are welcome, then, if your news is good or bad. Come in.”