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 astonishment as each moved round to the next root that the cut previously made had filled up so as to show no mark of the axe. Oa ordered them to remain each in his place, cutting steadily into the gap before him until the root was severed. This order was obeyed, and by dint of steady perseverance, just at the dawn of day the great tree fell with a mighty crash. They proceeded to lop off the boughs so as to leave the huge trunk clear and clean; and as by this time it was full daylight they set out for the village in order to obtain some needed rest. Before they could reach their homes the axemen were taken violently ill, blood flowed from their mouths red as the inner bark of the ironwood which they had felled. They tottered to the nearest stream to drink, but two of them died on the spot and the others had to leave the unburied bodies of their comrades in the fern, so stricken were they themselves with the deadly sickness. Looking back on gaining the summit of the hill, Oa and his two companions saw to their surprise that the tree was standing in its customary place, not a leaf or branch being missing, but with this difference, that the whole tree, bark, branches, and leaves, were all of the brightest red colour. Before the village was reached the other two axemen had fallen