]-t[)a]-v[)a]-ee.]

[Footnote 14: Haa-m[)u]-n[=a]y-m[)a]-nay.]

[Footnote 15: Ta-ce-[=o].]

CHAPTER VI

THE ISLAND BEACON FIRES

_Papeiha_[16]

(Date of Incident, 1823)

The edge of the sea was just beginning to gleam with the gold of the
rising sun. The captain of a little ship, that tossed and rolled on
the tumbling ocean, looked out anxiously over the bow. Around him
everywhere was the wild waste of the Pacific Ocean. Through day after
day he had tacked and veered, baffled by contrary winds. Now, with
little food left in the ship, starvation on the open ocean stared them
in the face.

They were searching for an island of which they had heard, but which
they had never seen.

The captain searched the horizon again, but he saw nothing, except
that ahead of him, on the sky-line to the S.W., great clouds had
gathered. He turned round and went to the master-missionary--the hero
and explorer and shipbuilder, John Williams, saying:

"We must give up the search or we shall all be starved."

John Williams knew that this was true; yet he hated the thought of
going back. He was a scout exploring at the head of God's navy. He had
left his home in London and with his young wife had sailed across the
world to the South Seas to carry the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the
people there. He was living on the island of Raiatea: but as he
himself said, "I cannot be confined within the limits of a single
reef." He wanted to pass on the torch to other islands. So he was now
on this voyage of discovery.

It was seven o'clock when the captain told John Williams that they
must give up the search.

"In an hour's time," said Williams, "we will turn back if we have not
sighted Rarotonga."

So they sailed on. The sun climbed the sky, the cool dawn was giving
way to the heat of day.

"Go up the mast and look ahead," said Williams to a South Sea Island
native. Then he paced the deck, hoping to hear the cry of "Land," but
nothing could the native see.

"Go up again," cried Williams a little later. And again there was
nothing. Four times the man climbed the mast, and four times he
reported only sea and sky and cloud. Gradually the sun's heat had
gathered up the great mountains of cloud, and the sky was clear to the
edge of the ocean. Then there came a sudden cry from the masthead:

"Teie teie, taua fenua, nei!"[17]

"Here, here is the land we have been seeking."

All rushed to the bows. As the ship sailed on and they ca