h and the really kind treatment she
had received, together with a hearty and needed meal of fruit, fish,
potatoes, and poi, caused her to look on her situation with less of
despair. She belonged to a simple race, whose moral code was different
from ours; she was more luxuriously surrounded than she had ever been
before; Kaupepee was bold and handsome; he was, moreover, strangely
gentle in her presence, thoughtful of her comfort, and--well, she
fell out of love with her old husband and in love with the new.

Matters were not so very dull while the war lord was away on his
forays. A considerable populace had been drawn to Haupu, and there
were dances and feasts, games, excursions, trials at arms, races, and
swimming matches, in which Hina shared when it pleased her. Reservoirs
for water, storehouses for food, and parks of ammunition were also to
be established, for none could tell when the fort might be attacked. A
long time passed before it was besieged. That time might never have
come had not Hina left at home two sons with long memories. For
years, as they approached manhood, they devoted themselves to rousing
the people of all the islands and preparing a navy that should be
invincible. Kaupepee kept himself informed of these measures, and now
and again discouraged them by swooping on their shipyards, destroying
their craft, and running off with a priest or two for a sacrifice. This
kind of thing merely hastened his punishment, and in time ten thousand
soldiers in two thousand boats were sighted from the battlements
of Haupu. A land force was sent to attack the stronghold from the
hills. Kaupepee's brother could not prevent this. He was allowed to
remain neutral. He foresaw the inevitable. When he implored the chief
to give up Hina, save himself and his warriors, and agree to a future
peace, Kaupepee would not listen. He had a thousand men, well armed,
and his enemies had an almost life-long hate to gratify. "If my day
has come," he said, "let it be as the gods will. When the battle is
over, look for me on the walls. I shall be there among the dead." The
king went away with bowed head, for he knew he should never see the
defender of Molokai again.

Early in the morning the fleet put out from its harborage, where
the gods had been invoked and the priests had declared the omens
kindly. The mother of Hina stood in the prow of one of the first
canoes, her white hair blowing about her head in snaky folds,
her black eyes g