first man to leave the ship. He would have to
come hand-over-hand along the rope, through the waters that boiled over
the deadly rocks, and through the thundering seas that beat the shore.
And hand-over-hand he came, past the reef on which the ship lay, across
the wild stretch of deep water, over the second and more perilous reef,
and into the middle of the breakers of the beach. There he lost his
hold, but Tahuna dashed into the surf, and seized him. The chief could
now give no attention to his own safety, but his wife and Amiria hauled
on the life-line, and prevented him and his burden from being carried
seawards by the back-wash. And so the first man was saved from the wreck
of _The Mersey Witch_.

Others soon followed; Tahuna became exhausted; his wife took his place,
and tied the life-line round her waist. After she had rescued four men,
Enoko came to himself and relieved her; and Amiria, not to be outdone in
daring, tied the other end of the line about her waist, and took her
stand beside the half-blind man.

As the captain, who was the last man to leave the ship, was dragged
out of the raging sea, a troop of Maoris arrived from the _pa_ with
blankets, food, and drink. Soon the newcomers had lighted a fire in a
sheltered niche of the cliff, and round the cheerful blaze they placed
the chilled and exhausted sailors.

The captain, when he could speak, said to Tahuna, "Weren't you one of
those who swam out to the ship?"

"Yeh, boss, that me," replied the chief in broken English. "You feel all
right now, eh?"

"Where are the women we saw in the water?"

"T'e _wahine_?" said Tahuna. "They all right, boss."

"Where are they? I should like to see them. I should like to thank
them."

The chief's wife, her back against the cliff, was resting after her
exertions. Amiria was attending to one of the men she had dragged out of
the surf, a tall, fair man, whose limbs she was chafing beside the fire.
When the chief called to his wife and the girl, Amiria rose, and placing
her Englishman in the charge of a big Maori woman, she flung over her
shoulders an old _korowai_ cloak which she had picked up from the beach,
and pushing through the throng, was presented to the captain.

He was a short, thick-set man, weather-beaten by two score voyages. "So
you're the girl we saw in the water," said he. "Pleased to meet you,
miss, pleased to meet you," and then after a pause, "Your daughter,
chief?"

Amiria's face broke into a