Sixteen years had passed since her [52] escape. Ii was rapidly nearing a drunkard’s grave, or, more accurately2, the time when his bones would be hidden in a cave, for mois were not buried in the ground like common men. Aa had become moi in all but name, and ruled with bloody3 and cruel hands. The masses groaned4 under his ruthless exactions. Many of the lesser5 chiefs had been assassinated6 or sacrificed on the altars of Ku, and their possessions confiscated7. The great chiefs were becoming restive8 and alarmed. Yet who should take up arms against the Lord of Life and Death, vice-gerent of Ku? Ii and Aa were of the blood of the gods. Hiwa knew how matters stood, and believed the time for action would come soon if the great nobles understood they could have a leader of divine birth.
Aelani had not reached his seventeenth year—a mere9 smooth-water swimmer. The pool, swarming10 with sharks, was a fine training school for a boy of twelve; but the ocean was the only proper place for an athletic11 young man, big, powerful, destined12 for great deeds. Aelani had learned to love [53] it in its varying moods, and most of all when it was stirred to wrath13, when tempests raged and huge waves dashed against the cliffs and broke in spray two hundred feet high. Many a time, in calm and in storm, Hiwa and Aelani had sported together in the open sea, like the fish to which they were almost akin14, but always with the greatest precautions against discovery, for the superstition which protected her might not protect him. Now the time was at hand when risks must be taken.
“Keike,” said Hiwa, one evening, “we will go windward to-night and see your royal city.”
They emerged from the water, at their journey’s end, close to Eaeakai’s hut. On this night also the fisherman and Lilii, his wife, and Manoa, their daughter, were sleeping outside. The girl—just past sixteen, which is three years older in the tropics than in the frozen north—was surpassingly beautiful, as her mother and Hiwa had been in the bloom of early womanhood. She lay in the moonlight, her lips half parted, smiling in her sleep, as if happy dreams were her [54] guests. Her lustrous16 black hair, reaching in heavy masses half way to her feet, was her only covering. It was not shamelessness. Neither was it the innocence17 of a babe. It was Nature untainted and unpurified by what we call civilization.
The sensations of the young man who had never before seen a female face or form save his mother’s may be imagined more easily than described. He stood gazing, like one in a trance.
“Well, keike,” Hiwa observed with a peculiar18 smile, as he reluctantly followed her, “at last you have seen a woman! And perhaps it is time you should.”
Avoiding the town, they made their way to the Kukuihaele side of the valley, and climbed to a height of about five hundred feet. It seemed to Aelani, as the valley lay spread before him, that he had already seen it many times, it had been described to him so well. To his right was the winding19 trail, the serpentine20 ladder, that led to the heights of Kukuihaele, forming the southern exit to the outer world, and beyond, stretching [55] northwesterly, long lines of white surf glistened21 in the moonlight and thundered on the beach. To his left was the mighty22 southern wall, and, at its further end, the stupendous falls of the Waipio River, sixteen hundred feet high. Then the wall bent23 irregularly to the northwest, apparently24 extending to the Waimano side; but Aelani knew that the valley, for a dozen miles more, wound its way, a deep chasm25 in the mountains. He knew the stream that traversed it, joining the Waipio River near the sea. He knew the rocky defile26 leading to the southwest, by which an army might some time enter to make him moi. He knew it from vivid description, although he could not see it. Opposite, across the valley, the Waimano cliffs, which Hiwa sixteen years before had sealed in her flight, rose to an altitude of three thousand feet, and below them, in the midst of rich, green lowlands, lay the royal town. In the centre of the town, distinguished27 by its size, was the palace of the moi, and near it that of the high-priest. Scattered28 through the valley, and also distinguishable by their size and the [56] clusters of huts about them, were the town residences of the great nobles. Kaanaana’s was on the Kukuihaele side, not far from where Hiwa and Aelani stood. But it was empty. He and his retinue29 had long since withdrawn30 to his domains31 beyond the mountains of Hamakua.
The night was calm, and, as Hiwa was pointing out things to be carefully remembered, and the houses of the different chiefs, a wail32 arose which, spreading beyond the town, reached them even where they stood. It was the mournful au-we, passing from lip to lip, at first low, gradually swelling33 to loud, passionate34 shrieks35, and then subsiding36 to weird37, blood-curdling sobs38. A few started it, then hundreds, then thousands took it up, and the mountains echoed with it—“Au-we! Au-we! Au-we!”
She stood for some minutes, rapidly forming plans of action.
[57] “Follow the cliff to the beach,” she said at last, “and wait for me at the mouth of the river. It may be an hour. It may be more.”
“I should go with you,” urged Aelani.
“Keike,” she cried, “do as I bid you! The Spirit of Hiwa must appear at the wailing for the dead moi to make the hearts of Aa and the hearts of his followers42 like the white milk of cocoanuts, and the moi that shall be must not be seen in his royal city till he comes to it with the spearmen of Kohala at his back.”
So Aelani followed the cliff to the sea and waited at the mouth of the river. But Hiwa crept through the rank vegetation of the rich kuleanas until she reached the river, and swam softly up stream under the shade of the overhanging bushes until she was close to the palace of the moi, and there she hid herself in a clump43 of trees, a point from which she could see and hear what was taking place.
She knew that, for the next three days, according to ancient usage, there would be no moi, and therefore no law. She knew the [58] nameless horrors that accompanied the wailing for a dead moi, the drunkenness, the mutilations, the bestial44 excesses, the wild carnival45 of cruelty, indecency, and lust15, and the wiping out of life-long grudges46 with fire and bloodshed.
But the weak and friendless were nothing to Aa. His followers were the beasts of prey47 who would revel48 in outrage49 and murder. Why should he restrain them? Yet Hiwa, in amazement50, saw him send twenty picked men in the direction of the sea, and heard him mention the name of Manoa. It could hardly be to murder her. The time for murder would be hours later, when men were frenzied51 with drink. But, if it were to save her from possibility of outrage, it was none too soon.
Hiwa dismissed it from her thoughts for the moment. Her first purpose was to fill the minds of Aa and his followers with superstitious52 terror. The great high-priest was as fanatical as he was bloody, and believed in the religion of which he was the official head. He bent over the body of his nephew, chanting:
[59]
“Ue, ue! Ua make kuu alii!
Ue, ue! Ua make kuu alii!”
And the assembled chiefs took up the refrain:
“Ue, ue! Ua make kuu alii!”
A voice, low and distinct, came from the river-bank, saying:
“Ue, ue! Ua make kuu alii!
Ae! Dead is the chief! The Spirit of Hiwa comes from the other world for the Spirit of Ii, Ruler of Land and Sea. And, lo! the Spirit of Hiwa prophesies53, and her word is the word of a goddess who sees the things that have been and the things that shall be. Aa, The Bloody, shall be a mouse in the day of battle, and shall die a pig’s death, and his bones shall not be hidden in a cave, but shall be put to open shame. And, behold54! there shall come a moi, The Chosen of Gods. At his birth the rainbow covered him, and Ku thundered from the mountains. None shall be able to withstand him, for Ku shall go before him, and behind him the hills shall be black with spearmen.”
[60] Aa’s cruel face was sallow with rage and terror, and blank amazement held the chiefs spell-bound. At length one of them, bolder or less superstitious than the rest, ventured to the river-bank whence the voice had come. The water flowed sluggishly55 and undisturbed. Far down towards the sea was a ripple56 that might have been made by a fish.
Hiwa swam under water for fifty yards, and then, having risen to breathe, took another long swim beneath the surface. So she kept on, alert and invisible. As she neared the hut of Eaeakai, the fisherman, and raised her head, she heard loud voices, shrieks of terror, and a cry as of some one in death agony. She crept up under cover of the river-bank and looked. Aa’s men were dragging Lilii and Manoa away in the direction of the town, and Eaeakai lay on the ground with a spear-thrust through his body.
Beneath caste and religion, which put an immeasurable gulf57 between them, Hiwa had a woman’s heart. Besides, she remembered the fisherman had been the means of saving her life. Then she was beginning to think [61] it possible that Lilii was her mother’s as well as her father’s daughter, and, if so, Manoa, being of the blood of the gods, was a fit mate for Aelani. As soon, therefore, as Aa’s men were at a safe distance she went to Eaeakai and bent over him. But the moment he saw her he shrank from her in fear, and, with his last remaining strength, turned and buried his face in the dust.
“I do not want to live,” he moaned, “for they have taken the joy of my heart and the life of my life. But why do you come—a vision to me—oh, goddess? Leave me to die alone!”
Then Hiwa spoke58 very gently to him, and tears stood in her eyes. “You shall die in peace,” she said, “and your body shall be buried in the ground as becomes your degree. I cannot save your life, my poor fellow; I would if I could. It may not be given me to rescue those you love, but this much I promise you, I will try.”
“Goddess,” murmured the dying man, “I thank you with my face in the dust.”
“One thing more!” cried Hiwa, and her voice grew stern, and her eyes flashed. “I [62] swear to you that Aa, who did this thing, shall die a pig’s death, and his bones shall not be hidden in a cave, but shall be put to open shame!”
Again the fisherman murmured his thanks.
“But why did he take them?” inquired Hiwa, her suspicion becoming almost a conviction that he had a deeper motive59 than the mere possession of a young and beautiful woman.
“I do not know,” replied Eaeakai.
“Who is your wife? Who was her mother?” Hiwa demanded, for she saw that the man’s life was fast ebbing60 away.
“I do not know,” he feebly answered. “She was exposed and adopted, picked up, a new-born babe, the very day the great goddess who now speaks to me was born.”
“Who found her? Who picked her up?”
Eaeakai tried to answer, but the death rattle61 was in his throat, a convulsive shudder62 ran through his frame, and, with his face still in the dust, he died.
Hiwa swam to the mouth of the river, where she found Aelani waiting. In a few words she told him what had happened, [63] but not what the dying man had said. She had never before seen him so deeply moved. Although time pressed and a kingdom was at stake, they returned and buried the fisherman according to his degree, as had been promised.
As they swam home in the small hours of the morning, Hiwa pondered on many things, not least on the mystery of the fisherman’s wife and daughter. She remembered that Lolo, the court jester, once asked her if she had seen her twin sister, and, when she repeated the saying, that her mother laughed and said it was only the quip of a fool; but, never hearing of it again, she did not believe it, although she knew the custom of her people, and also that Lolo died that night of a broken head.
More kittens are drowned than grow up, yet there is no dearth63 of cats. Infanticide was regarded in much the same way by the ancient Hawaiians. No woman was thought worse of on account of killing64 her babies, and a large percentage of new-born children were exposed to perish, or to be picked up and adopted, as chance might direct. Hiwa [64] and Lilii, therefore, might be twin sisters, and it might have been thought that twin princesses, too divine to marry mortal men, would cause state embarrassments65. The more Hiwa thought it over the more probable it seemed.
“Aa,” she mused66, “is old and not fond of women. He would not do this thing for the girl’s youth and beauty. Ambition is his ruling passion, and now that Ii is dead it blazes up in a fierce flame. If he knows, as I believe, that they are my mother’s child and grandchild, he means to kill one to cut off all possibility of rival heirs to the throne, and to marry the other. That is why he seized them the moment my brother was dead. If the girl is Aelani’s cousin on my mother’s side, the boy shall have her for his wife in spite of Aa, for her blood is divine.”
So Hiwa, pondering on these things, and planning for the future, swam silently homeward. Aelani swam in silence by her side. A new inspiration had come to him. The master passion of love had taken a mighty hold on him. Heretofore he had [65] been a patient and painstaking67 pupil—not because he greatly cared to be a moi, but because he loved his mother. Now the pathway to the throne was his only pathway to Manoa.
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1
superstition
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| n.迷信，迷信行为 | |
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2
accurately
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| adv.准确地，精确地 | |
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3
bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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4
groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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5
lesser
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| adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地 | |
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6
assassinated
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| v.暗杀( assassinate的过去式和过去分词 )；中伤；诋毁；破坏 | |
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7
confiscated
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| 没收，充公( confiscate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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8
restive
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| adj.不安宁的，不安静的 | |
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9
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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10
swarming
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| 密集( swarm的现在分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
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11
athletic
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| adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的 | |
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12
destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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13
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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14
akin
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| adj.同族的，类似的 | |
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15
lust
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| n.性(淫)欲；渴(欲)望；vi.对…有强烈的欲望 | |
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16
lustrous
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| adj.有光泽的；光辉的 | |
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17
innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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18
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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19
winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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20
serpentine
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| adj.蜿蜒的，弯曲的 | |
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21
glistened
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| v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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22
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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23
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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24
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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25
chasm
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| n.深坑，断层，裂口，大分岐，利害冲突 | |
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26
defile
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| v.弄污，弄脏；n.(山间)小道 | |
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27
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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28
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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29
retinue
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| n.侍从；随员 | |
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30
withdrawn
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| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
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31
domains
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| n.范围( domain的名词复数 )；领域；版图；地产 | |
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32
wail
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| vt./vi.大声哀号，恸哭；呼啸，尖啸 | |
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33
swelling
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| n.肿胀 | |
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34
passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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35
shrieks
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| n.尖叫声( shriek的名词复数 )v.尖叫( shriek的第三人称单数 ) | |
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36
subsiding
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| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的现在分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
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37
weird
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| adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的 | |
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38
sobs
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| 啜泣（声），呜咽（声）( sob的名词复数 ) | |
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39
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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40
sublime
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| adj.崇高的，伟大的；极度的，不顾后果的 | |
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41
wailing
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的现在分词 )；沱 | |
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42
followers
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| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
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43
clump
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| n.树丛，草丛；vi.用沉重的脚步行走 | |
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44
bestial
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| adj.残忍的；野蛮的 | |
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45
carnival
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| n.嘉年华会，狂欢，狂欢节，巡回表演 | |
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46
grudges
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| 不满，怨恨，妒忌( grudge的名词复数 ) | |
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47
prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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48
revel
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| vi.狂欢作乐，陶醉；n.作乐，狂欢 | |
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49
outrage
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| n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒 | |
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50
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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51
frenzied
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| a.激怒的；疯狂的 | |
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52
superstitious
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| adj.迷信的 | |
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53
prophesies
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| v.预告，预言( prophesy的第三人称单数 ) | |
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54
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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55
sluggishly
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| adv.懒惰地；缓慢地 | |
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56
ripple
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| n.涟波，涟漪，波纹，粗钢梳；vt.使...起涟漪，使起波纹； vi.呈波浪状，起伏前进 | |
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57
gulf
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| n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂 | |
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58
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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59
motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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60
ebbing
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| （指潮水）退( ebb的现在分词 )； 落； 减少； 衰落 | |
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61
rattle
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| v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓 | |
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62
shudder
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| v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动 | |
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63
dearth
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| n.缺乏，粮食不足，饥谨 | |
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64
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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65
embarrassments
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| n.尴尬( embarrassment的名词复数 )；难堪；局促不安；令人难堪或耻辱的事 | |
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66
mused
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| v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
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67
painstaking
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| adj.苦干的；艰苦的，费力的，刻苦的 | |
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