Hino, the Apostate. 355 
threw her tender body to the hungry sharks 
that waited outside the reef. 
Ill 
Now it is strange, but true, that that 
night, as Hino-riri, the mother, lay sobbing 
to herself upon the beach alone—for Tati had 
taken her boy away for the night—the sea¬ 
birds that had fled from their breeding-places 
on Vahitahi came back in thousands, and filled 
the air with their clamour, and the people killed 
them with sticks till their arms were tired. And 
as she lay there on the sand, there passed by her 
women carrying heavy strings of dead birds. 
They saw her and mocked her—for all knew 
that Tati had cast her off—and one threw her a 
bird and said— 
“ Eat, thou apostate. This is the gift of 
Tahua to thee—for thy child that has gone 
into his belly.” 
She answered them not, but kneeling upon 
the sand, prayed to Christ, the Son of the new 
God she worshipped, to take her to Him and 
her child Aimata. 
