f the flickering
candlenuts and the scented sandalwood.

"'I am The Wind That Lays Low The Mighty Tree. I am The Wave That
Fills The Canoe and Delivers The People To The Sharks!' said Tomefitu.
'The flesh of my kinsman fills the bellies of the men of Atuona, and
the gods say war!

"'There is war!' said Tomefitu. 'We must bring offerings to the gods.
Five men will go with me to Otoputo and bring back the gifts. I will
bring back to you the bodies of six of the Atuona pigs. Prepare!
When we have eaten, the chiefs of Atuona will come to Taaoa, and
then you will fight!

"'Make ready with dancing. Polish spears and gather stones for the
slings. Koe, who is my man, will be obeyed while I am gone. I have
spoken,' said Tomefitu. That night Tomefitu and I, with four others,
went silently to Otoputo, the dividing rock that looks down on the
right into the valley of Taaoa and on the left into Atuona. There we
lay among rocks and bushes and spied upon the feet of the enemy.
That man who separated himself from others and came our way to seek
food, or to visit at the house of a friend, him we secretly fell upon,
and slew.

"Thus we did to the six named by Tomefitu, and as we killed them, we
sent them back by others to the High Place. There the warriors
feasted upon them and gained strength for battle.

"Then, missing so many of their clan, the head men of Atuona came to
Otoputo, and shouted to us to give word of the absent. We shouted
back, saying that those men had been roasted upon the fire and eaten,
and that thus we would do to all men of Atuona. And we laughed at
them."

Kahuiti emitted a hearty guffaw at thought of the trick played upon
those devoured enemies.

"But Tufetu, the grandfather of my friend Mouth of God?" I persisted.

"_Epo!_ There was war. The men of Atuona gathered at Otupoto, and
rushed down upon us. We met them at the Stinking Springs, and there
I killed Tufetu, uncle of Sliced and Distributed and Man Whose
Entrails Were Roasted On A Stick. I pierced him through with my
spear at a cocoanut-tree's length away. I was the best spear-thrower
of Taaoa. We drove the Atuonans through the gorge of the Stinking
Springs and over the divide, and I ate the right arm of Tufetu that
had wielded the war-club. That gives a man the strength of his enemy."

He turned again to plaiting the rope of _faufee_.

"_O ia aneihe_, I have finished," he said. "Will you drink _kava_?"

"No, I will not drink _kava_," I said s