nto the High Place and besought the gods, but they
were deaf. They made no answer. Then in despair the chief, Atituahuei,
set a time when, if the gods gave no counsel, he would lead every
man of the tribe against the foe, and die while the war-clubs sang.

"Atituahuei went with the _taua_ to the giant rock, Meae-Topaiho,
the sacred stone shaped like a spear that stood between the lands of
the warring peoples, and there he said this vow to the gods. And the
people waited.

"They waited for the space of the waxing and waning of the moon, and
the gods said nothing. Then the warriors made ready their _u'u_ of
polished ironwood, and filled their baskets with stones, and made
ready the spears. On the darkest night of the moon the Piina of
Fiti-nui was to go forth to fight and be killed by the Hana-uaua.

"But before the moon had gone, the _taua_ came down from the High
Place, and said that the gods had spoken. They commanded the people
to depart from Ahao, and to sail beyond the Isle of Barking Dogs
until they came to a new land. The gods would protect them from the
waves. The gods had shown the _taua_ a hidden valley, which ran to
the beach, in which to build the canoes.

"For many months the Piina of Fiti-nui labored in secret in the
hidden valley. They built five canoes, giant, double canoes, with
high platforms and houses on them, the kind that are built no more.
In these canoes they placed the women and children and the aged, and
when all was ready, the men raided the village of the Piina of
Hana-uaua, and in the darkness brought all their food to the canoes.

"At daybreak the Fiti-nui embarked in four of the canoes, but one
they must leave behind for the daughter of the chief, who expected
to be delivered of a child at any hour, and for the women of her
family, who would not leave her. The hidden valley was filled with
the sound of lamentation at the parting, but the gods had spoken,
and they must go.

"When the four canoes were in the sea beyond the village of Hana-uaua,
all their people beat their war-drums and blew the trumpets of shell.
The people of Hana-uaua heard the noise, and said that strangers had
come, but whether for a fight or a feast they did not know. They
rushed to the shore, and there they saw on the sea the people of the
Fiti-nui, who called to them and said that they were going far away.

"Then the Hana-uaua tribe wept. For they remembered that they were
brothers, and though they had fought l