Page:The Gates of Morning - Henry De Vere Stacpoole.pdf/18



WO women were in it, and as they drove it ashore beaching it with the outrigger a-tilt, Dick, followed by Katafa, approached, and resting his hand on the mast stays attached to the outrigger gratings, he turned to the women, who, springing out, stood, paddles in hand, looking from him to Katafa.

“And the builders?” asked he, “where are they?”

The shorter woman clucked her tongue and turned her face away towards the lagoon, the taller one looked Dick straight in the face.

“They will not come,” said she. “They say Uta Matu alone was their king and he is dead, also they say they are too old. ‘A mataya ayana’—they are feeble and near past the fishing, even in the quiet water.”

The shorter woman choked as if over a laugh, then she turned straight to Dick.

“They will not come, Taori, all else is talk.”

She was right. The express order had gone to them to cross over and they refused; they would not acknowledge the newcomer as their chief, all else was talk.

Several villagers, seeing the canoe beaching, had