said, with upturned tender glances, "O my
chief, who gavest me life and sweet joy; thy breath is my breath;
thy eyes are my sweetest sight; thy breast is my only resting-place;
and when I go away, I shall all the way look back to thee, and go
slowly with a backward turned heart; but when I return to thee,
I shall have wings to bear me to my lord."

"Yes, my own bird," said Kaaialii, "thou must fly, but fly swiftly
in thy going as well as in thy coming; for both ways thou fliest to
me. When thou art gone I shall spear the tender ohua fish, I shall bake
the yam and banana, and I will fill the calabash with sweet water,
to feed thee, my heart, when thou shalt come; and thou shalt feed me
with thy loving eyes.

"Here, Opunui! take thy child. Thou gavest life to her, but now she
gives life to me. Bring her back all well, ere the sun has twice
risen. If she come not soon, I shall die; but I should slay thee
before I die; therefore, O Opunui, hasten thy going and thy coming,
and bring back my life and love to me."

And now the stern hero unclasped the weeping girl. His eye was calm,
but his shut lips showed the work within of a strong and tender heart
of love. He felt the ache of a larger woe than this short parting. He
pressed the little head between his palms; he kissed the sobbing lips
again and again; he gave one strong clasp, heart to heart, and then
quickly strode away.

As Kaala tripped along the stony up-hill path, she glanced backward
on her way, to get glimpses of him she loved, and she beheld her
chief standing on the topmost rock of the great bluff overhanging the
sea. And still as she went and looked, still there he stood; and when
on the top of the ridge and about to descend into the great valley,
she turned to look her last, still she saw her loving lord looking
up to her.

The silent sire and the weeping child soon trod the round, green vale
of Palawai. She heeded not now to pluck, as was her wont, the flowers
in her path; but thought how she should stop a while, as she came
back, to twine a wreath for her dear lord's neck. And thus this sad
young love tripped along with innocent hope by the moody Opunui's side.

They passed through the groves of Kalulu and Kumoku, and then the
man swerved from the path leading to Mahana and turned his face again
seaward. At this the sad and silent child looked up into the face of
her grim and sullen sire and said: "O father, we shall not find mother
on this path, but