Wild Life in Southern Seas. 
36° 
thought that she had had the boy with her, and 
knew that Tati would kill them for not taking 
him away from her. 
When the sun was high, and all the people 
were gathered together on the north end of the 
island, searching for Hino-riri and the boy in 
a low, dense scrub, they saw her walking towards 
them along the beach. 
Her feet were cut and bleeding, and she was 
weak, and her thin, frail form swayed to and fro 
as she walked. As she drew near, the people 
rushed out to meet her and gathered round her. 
“ What seek ye, O people ? ” she said, and 
she leant her hand on a woman’s shoulder. 
“ Art thou, O Tati, seeking for thy son 
Tairoa, even as I have sought for my daughter 
Aimata ? Come then, with me, and I shall show 
thee that I, too, have made sacrifice to the gods 
of this land, and cast away the Christ God— 
He who could not save my child Aimata.” 
The tide had risen and fallen since the night, 
and Hino-riri, laughing and talking to herself 
and flinging her arms widely apart, led the 
people out over the reef till she came to where 
the paua lay. Then she stopped, and pointing 
to a great clam whose lips were closed, she spoke. 
