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Baptized and instructed in the religion of her savior, she was secretly returned to her surviving relatives. There she lived to a good age, and died four years ago, grateful always to the God that had preserved her from the oven. He who spoke was her son, and here at the kava bowl together were the men of Motopu and the men of Atuona, enemies no longer. The voice of the Motopu man died away.
A feast to the men of Motopu; the making of kava, and its drinking; the story of the Girl Who Lost Her Strength. The Vagabond, Kivi, who lived near the High Place, came down to my paepae one evening to bid me come to a feast given in Atuona Valley to the men of Motopu, who had been marvelously favored by the god of the sea.
In the morning the other captives were dead, but those who escaped were months in the fastness of the heights, living on roots and on birds they snared. In the end they went to Motopu. They were well received, for the Tahuata warriors thought a god had aided them, and they and their children lived long there."
Months of storms, said Kivi, had felled many a stately palm of Taka-Uka and washed thousands of ripe cocoanuts into the bay, whence the current that runs swift across the channel had swept the fruitage of the winds straight to the inlet of Motopu, on the island of Tahuata. The men of that village, with little effort to themselves, had reaped richly.
Then for a space Père Orens remained silent, holding high the crucifix, and the chief heard from his pocket the voice of the small god speaking. "Give to me that small piece of living meat," said Père Orens then. "Me mamai oe. If it is your pleasure, take it," said Great Sea Slug. "It is a trifle. We have enough, and there is more in Motopu."
Children died of hunger on the paepaes, and the breasts of mothers shrunk so that they gave forth no milk. Therefore the warriors set forth in the great canoes for Motopu. Meat was the cry, and there was no other meat than puaa oa, the "long pig." Then in the darkness the hungry fighting men of Atuona silently beached their canoes and crept upon the sleeping village of Motopu.
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