Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Neither moon nor stars pierced the gloom. Some gusts of wind whistled by the sides of the "pah," and the posts of the house creaked: the fire outside revived with the puffs of wind, and the flames sent fitful gleams into the interior of Ware-Atoua. The group of prisoners was lit up for a moment; they were absorbed in their last thoughts, and a deathlike silence reigned in the hut.
Glenarvan, holding with one hand to a tuft of tetragonia, with the other holding his wife, waited with breathless anxiety. Wilson had had an alarm. Having heard some unusual noise outside the Ware-Atoua, he went back into the hut and watched the Maories from behind the mat. At a sign from him, John stopped Glenarvan.
It was all over with Glenarvan and his companions. "All!" cried Kai-Koumou; "you all die to-morrow at daybreak." Punishment fell on all indiscriminately. Lady Helena and Mary Grant were grateful to Heaven for the boon. The captives were not taken back to Ware-Atoua. They were destined to attend the obsequies of the chief and the bloody rites that accompanied them.
Kai-Koumou came out of his house, and surrounded by the principal chiefs of his tribe, he took his stand on a mound some feet above the level, in the center of the enclosure. The crowd of natives formed in a half circle some distance off, in dead silence. At a sign from Kai-Koumou, a warrior bent his steps toward Ware-Atoua. "Remember," said Lady Helena to her husband.
Five minutes after, all the fugitives had safely escaped from the Ware-Atoua, left their retreat, and keeping away from the inhabited shores of the lakes, they plunged by narrow paths into the recesses of the mountains. They walked quickly, trying to avoid the points where they might be seen from the pah. They were quite silent, and glided among the bushes like shadows. Whither?
Till February 15th the "pah" was deserted. John Mangles, hoisted on Wilson's shoulders, frequently reconnoitered the outer defences. Not a single native was visible; only the watchful sentinels relieving guard at the door of the Ware-Atoua. But on the third day the huts opened; all the savages, men, women, and children, in all several hundred Maories, assembled in the "pah," silent and calm.
In this "Ware-Atoua," sacred house, the priests or arikis taught the Maories about a Triune God, father, son, and bird, or spirit. The large, well constructed hut, contained the sacred and choice food which Maoui-Ranga-Rangui eats by the mouths of his priests. In this place, and safe for the moment from the frenzied natives, the captives lay down on the flax mats.
John had never reminded Mary of what she had said to him on that last night at Ware-Atoua. He was too wise to take advantage of a word spoken in a moment of despair. When he mentioned Captain Grant, John always spoke of further search. He assured Mary that Lord Glenarvan would re-embark in the enterprise.
How was he to summon the terrible courage! "And Mary? who has a right to strike her dead?" thought John, whose heart was broken. Escape was clearly impossible. Ten warriors, armed to the teeth, kept watch at the door of Ware-Atoua. The morning of February 13th arrived. No communication had taken place between the natives and the "tabooed" prisoners.
From this point the prisoners could soon gain the lower valleys; while the Maories, if they perceived the flight of the prisoners, would have to make a long round to catch them, being unaware of the gallery between the Ware-Atoua and the outer rock. The escape was commenced, and every precaution was taken. The captives passed one by one through the narrow passage into the grotto.
Word Of The Day