t
from the rest, he swung a short-handled, keen-bladed hatchet over his
head, and sank it into the brain of the wretched Baxter.

* Synonymous with Maori _utu_--revenge.

"Stand thou aside, Banderah, son of Paylap," screamed the old man,
waving the bloody hatchet fiercely at him. "I, old Toka, the priest,
will to-day again show the men of Mayou how to drink the blood and eat
the flesh of the long pigs the gods have given into our hands," and
again he buried the weapon in Baxter's breathless body. And as Banderah
looked at the old man's working face, and saw the savage mouth, flecked
with foam, writhing and twisting in horrible contortions, and then saw
the almost equally dreadful visages of the rest of his men, he knew that
the old, old lust for human flesh had come upon them.

So, with the one idea of saving Blount and the missionary and his wife,
he turned and fled through the forest towards the beach.

V ~ THE TAPU OF BANDERAH

The Rev. Wilfrid and Mrs. Deighton were at lunch, talking about the
genial manners and other qualifications of their guests, when suddenly
they heard a rapid step on the verandah, and Blount dashed into the
room.

His face was white with excitement, and they saw that he carried his
revolver in his hand.

"What in heaven's name is wrong, Mr. Blount? Why are you armed----"

"For God's sake don't ask me now! Our lives are in danger--deadly,
imminent danger. Follow me to my house!"

"But, my dear sir," began Mr. Deighton, "I do not see--I fail----"

"Man, don't talk! Do you think I do not know what I am saying? Your two
friends are both murdered. Banderah is now at my house, too exhausted to
tell me more than to come and save you."

"Dear, dear me! Oh, this is dreadful! Let us, Alice, my dear, seek
Divine----"

"You fool!" and the trader seized the missionary by the arm as he was
about to sink upon his knees. "Stay here and pray if you like--and
get your throat cut In ten--in five minutes more, every native except
Banderah will be here ready to burn and murder. I tell you, man, that
our only chance of safety is to reach my house first, and then the
schooner. Come, Mrs. Deighton. For God's sake, come!"

Pushing past the missionary, he seized Mrs. Deighton by the hand and
descended the steps. They had scarcely gone two hundred yards when they
heard a strange, awful cry peal through the woods; and Mr. Deighton
shuddered. Only once before had he heard such a cry, and that wa