ches of _tui tui_ (candle-nut kernels) were lighted, they talked
among themselves, not loudly but in whispers, for no one knew but that
one of the chiefs body-men might perhaps be listening outside, and that
to them meant swift death from the anger of Mahua.

'Why has this misfortune come upon us?' they said to one another. 'Why
should Narue, who is an _aito_{*} set his heart upon the daughter of
Tetoro when there are women of as good blood as her close to his hand?
Surely, when she comes here to live, then will there be hard times in
the land, and we shall be eaten up with hunger.'

* A man distinguished in warfare.

'Ay,' said a girl named Milli, 'it is hard that we should give our all
to a strange woman.'

She spoke very loudly, and without fear, and the rest of the people
looked wonderingly at her, for she was but a poor slave, and, as such,
should not have raised her voice when men were present. So they angrily
bade her be silent. Who was she that dared to speak of such things? If
she died of hunger, they said, what did it matter? She was but a girl
and a slave, and girls' lives were worth nothing until they bore male
children.

And then Milli the Slave sprang up, her eyes blazing with anger, and
heaped scorn upon them for cowards.

'See,' she said, and her voice shook with passion; 'see me, Milli the
Slave, standing before ye all, and listen to my words, so that your
hearts may grow strong, even as strong as mine has grown. Listen while I
tell thee of a dream that came to me in the night.

'In my dream this land of ours became as it was fifteen moons ago, and
as it may never be again. I saw the groves of plantains, with their
loads of fruit, shine red and yellow, like the setting of the sun, and
the ground was forced open because of the great size of the yams and
taro and arrowroot that grew beneath; and I heard the heavy fall of the
ripe coconuts on the grass, and the crooning notes of the pigeons that
fed upon the red _mati_ berries were as the low booming of the surf on
the reef when it sounds far distant.'

For a little while she ceased, and the people muttered.

'Ay, it was so, fifteen moons ago.'

And then Milli, sinking upon one knee, and spreading out her arms
towards them, spoke again, but in a low, soft voice,--

'And I saw the white beach of Teavamoa black with turtle that could
scarce crawl seaward because of their fatness; and saw the canoes,
filled to the gunwales with white, shinin