f they were
not quiet, he would swiftly quieten them with his moorillah. But if
they would come quietly with him he would be good to them. Seeing that
resistance was useless, the two young girls complied with his wish, and
travelled quietly on with him. They told him that some day their tribe
would come and steal them back again; to avoid which he travelled
quickly on and on still further, hoping to elude all pursuit. Some
weeks passed, and, outwardly, the two Meamei seemed settled down to
their new life, and quite content in it, though when they were alone
together they often talked of their sisters, and wondered what they had
done when they realised their loss. They wondered if the five were
still hunting for them, or whether they had gone back to their tribe to
get assistance. That they might be in time forgotten and left with
Wurrunnali for ever, they never once for a moment thought. One day when
they were camped Wurrunnah said: "This fire will not burn well. Go you
two and get some bark from those two pine trees over there."

"No," they said, "we must not cut pine bark. If we did, you would never
more see us."

"Go! I tell you, cut pine bark. I want it. See you not the fire burns
but slowly?"

"If we go, Wurrunnah, we shall never return. You will see us no more in
this country. We know it."

"Go, women, stay not to talk. Did ye ever see talk make a fire burn?
Then why stand ye there talking? Go; do as I bid you. Talk not so
foolishly; if you ran away soon should I catch you, and, catching you,
would beat you hard. Go I talk no more."

The Meamei went, taking with them their combos with which to cut the
bark. They went each to a different tree, and each, with a strong hit,
drove her combo into the bark. As she did so, each felt the tree that
her combo had struck rising higher out of the ground and bearing her
upward with it. Higher and higher grew the pine trees, and still on
them, higher and higher from the earth, went the two girls. Hearing no
chopping after the first hits, Wurrunnah came towards the pines to see
what was keeping the girls so long. As he came near them he saw that
the pine trees were growing taller even as he looked at them, and
clinging to the trunks of the trees high in the air he saw his two
wives. He called to them to come down, but they made no answer. Time
after time he called to them as higher and higher they went, but still
they made no answer. Steadily taller grew the two pines, unt