ain. "Mongondro shall have the boots. Go, you young
men, some three or four of you, and meet the missionary on the trail. Be
sure you bring back the boots as well."
"It is too late," said Erirola. "Listen! He comes now."
Breaking through the thicket of brush, John Starhurst, with Narau close
on his heels, strode upon the scene. The famous boots, having filled in
wading the stream, squirted fine jets of water at every step. Starhurst
looked about him with flashing eyes. Upborne by an unwavering trust,
untouched by doubt or fear, he exulted in all he saw. He knew that
since the beginning of time he was the first white man ever to tread the
mountain stronghold of Gatoka.
The grass houses clung to the steep mountain side or overhung the
rushing Rewa. On either side towered a mighty precipice. At the best,
three hours of sunlight penetrated that narrow gorge. No cocoanuts
nor bananas were to be seen, though dense, tropic vegetation overran
everything, dripping in airy festoons from the sheer lips of the
precipices and running riot in all the crannied ledges. At the far end
of the gorge the Rewa leaped eight hundred feet in a single span, while
the atmosphere of the rock fortress pulsed to the rhythmic thunder of
the fall.
From the Buli's house, John Starhurst saw emerging the Buli and his
followers.
"I bring you good tidings," was the missionary's greeting.
"Who has sent you?" the Buli rejoined quietly.
"God."
"It is a new name in Viti Levu," the Buli grinned. "Of what islands,
villages, or passes may he be chief?"
"He is the chief over all islands, all villages, all passes," John
Starhurst answered solemnly. "He is the Lord over heaven and earth, and
I am come to bring His word to you."
"Has he sent whale teeth?" was the insolent query.
"No, but more precious than whale teeth is the--"
"It is the custom, between chiefs, to send whale teeth," the Buli
interrupted.
"Your chief is either a niggard, or you are a fool, to come empty-handed
into the mountains. Behold, a more generous than you is before you."
So saying, he showed the whale tooth he had received from Erirola.
Narau groaned.
"It is the whale tooth of Ra Vatu," he whispered to Starhurst. "I know
it well. Now are we undone."
"A gracious thing," the missionary answered, passing his hand through
his long beard and adjusting his glasses. "Ra Vatu has arranged that we
should be well received."
But Narau groaned again, and backed a
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