Read Online A Canoe In the Mist by Elsie Locke - Free Book Online Page A

other the tale of a pig that got lost, and when everyone was searching it came home by itself. Their path was taking them away from the hotels, to reach the main road near the meeting house, Hinemihi. And there, as they came through the last clump of trees, standing in the road and looking directly towards them,was Tuhoto. His height, untouched by age, was startling; and his gaze seemed to wrap them round with a dread of things to come.
    ‘I can’t go past him, I can’t,’ gasped Mattie. ‘He gives me the shivers.’
    ‘Not good to meet Tuhoto,’ agreed Kanea. ‘We go another way.’
    They backtracked through the trees and then worked their way along the hillside above the timber house where the chief Wi Keepa lived.
    ‘Tuhoto hates us young people,’ Kanea said. ‘He says we’re too much for the good time. He’s old and likes to stay by the whare, but that waka wairua gets him out. We keep away from his curses.’
    ‘We must cross the road somewhere, though,’ said Lillian. ‘What if he’s coming this way?’
    ‘We watch out,’ said Kanea.
    Peeping through a bush they saw him standing in the same place, but facing in their new direction. It was uncanny; as if some special sense told him where they were, and he pursued them with his eyes.
    ‘We run fast,’ said Kanea.
    Why did Mattie feel that tightness in her throat, why did Lillian feel her heart thumping, as they sprinted across towards the track to Hinemihi? That old man hadn’t a hope of catching anyone. But they kept running until they were behind the meeting house, and Kanea pushed aside twostakes in the manuka fence for them to squeeze through. From here they could stare at Tuhoto without being seen—and yet, distant as he now was, they could tell he was again facing towards them.
    ‘Ah, we trick him,’ said Kanea. ‘Tuhoto says the waka wairua mean bad things will happen, but we won’t let him near us.’
    ‘How will that make any difference?’ said Lillian. ‘We saw that canoe.’
    ‘And it was real ,’ added Mattie.
    ‘Mr Haszard made you say it wasn’t there,’ said Kanea, ‘but we know . I go now. Those fowls get hungry.’
    ‘We’ll be late home too. We’ll go back by the river,’ said Lillian.
    It was good to see the water racing past with a merry sound. ‘I feel better now I’ve told Kanea,’ Lillian said. And then, at a bend in the river, they came upon Guide Sophia sitting on a log and watching the fish make circles in a fern-edged pool.
    At first she did not seem to see them or hear their greeting. Then she raised her head and held out her hands, one to Lillian, one to Mattie. The girls stood in silence, feeling the comfort that flowed from those hands, until Lillian was moved to speak.
    ‘Guide Sophia,’ she said, ‘the waka wairua. I know what it means now.’
    ‘Ae. All Te Wairoa knows. Go on.’
    ‘They won’t let me talk about it,’ said Lillian in a burst of anger. ‘Mumma and Mr and Mrs Humphreys, they won’t let me say what I saw, in case it scares people.’
    ‘Does it scare you , Lillian?’
    ‘I’m all muddled up. No, I don’t think I’m scared, but tell me: was it really an omen?’
    ‘Yes, it was an omen. But remember this: a disaster is foretold, but when it will come and who it will strike, no one knows. We must go on living as if life is for ever. You go to school, and I go to Hinemihi to swing the poi.’
    ‘We saw Tuhoto just now. He scared us. All the children are afraid of him,’ said Lillian.
    ‘But he has done no more than interpret the omen,’ said Sophia. ‘He thinks the people have turned away from their traditions, and he wants them to know , like a prophet in the Bible. You, Mattie, now that you are delayed in Te Wairoa, are you troubled?’
    ‘Tuhoto scares me too,’ answered Mattie, ‘but we think it was a real canoe we saw.’
    ‘Then you have no reason to fear,’ said Sophia with a smile. ‘Go now. May the Lord protect you.’
    She loosened their hands and