Hino , the Apostate. 347 
“ thou wilt so anger thy country’s gods and 
bring misfortune upon thyself!” 
Then some one called out, “ Give us the 
false priest, that we may kill him and eat his 
flesh! ” and then, ere Tati could stay their 
hand, they sprang upon Mauta, the Tahitian 
teacher, and stabbed and cut him with their 
spears. But although the blood poured from 
his mouth, and one arm was gone, he cried 
out as he died— 
“ Hold thou fast, O Hino-riri, to the true 
God, and His Son, Jesus Christ, even as do 
I when now my life goes from me. For there 
is but one God, and Christ is His Son.” 
That night Matara and other men ate each 
a little portion of Mauta’s body, and Hino-riri 
and her children wept, for they loved Mauta, 
who was ever kind to them. And Tati, sitting 
apart from them, was moody and troubled, yet 
was secretly glad that Mauta was dead. 
II 
The famine grew and grew, and soon the 
people began to whisper and say that the two 
other women who, with Hino-riri, had learnt 
