'Very much in it, I should say,' answered George, as a thorn-branch smacked him sharply across the cheek. 'Don't go too fast, Paeroa. It will not do for us to lose touch with one another. Besides, you must be almost worn out. Where is Kawainga?' 'Here I am, Hortoni,' said the girl. 'I waited for you on the flat with Paeroa, though you did not see me.' There was a note of pride in her voice. 'You are both good friends, I know,' replied George. 'Are you weary, Star of the Morning?' 'Nay; the Maori is never weary when a friend is in danger,' the girl answered simply. 'Press on, Hortoni. Day is very near.' 'Ay! It must be,' put in Terence. 'Hark, George, those fellows are still roaring under the impression we have been kind enough to wait for them in the swamp. I can't understand why that astute chief did not order torches to be lit.' 'Possibly because he found out that we had got possession of firearms, and did not wish to give us a good target. By the way, Terence, have you got the third revolver? I lost mine as I crossed the ditch. My club is all very well; but----' 'Your club!' Terence's tone expressed amazement. 'You don't mean to say that the thing has come back to you!' 'No; I don't.' George laughed a little. 'However, I have found it. It was on the bank of the ditch where we crossed after our last excursion.' 'Oh yes; that sounds quite commonplace,' said Terence. 'All the same I'll warrant that you were mightily surprised when you found it.' 'I was; and thankful too,' admitted George. 'But you see how easily everything in connection with the club may be explained when once we begin to sift matters.' 'I should like to know, then, how it found its way back to you from the bottom of the sea,' Terence said slyly. 'It was I who brought it back, O Mura.' Paeroa's voice came out of the gloom ahead of them. 'I found it the first time that I dived, and, as I had been too hurried to take off my waist-cloth, I hid the _mere_ therein and waited till I could give it to Hortoni. But he was sleeping with his face towards the gates of Reinga, so I slipped it under his mats as he lay on his litter--and after that he got well,' he finished innocently. Terence drew a long breath. 'Another illusion gone!' he commented. 'Before we are done we shall be forced to believe that the wonderful _mere_ is only a piece of common greenstone after all. I think that we should halt. What do you say, Paeroa?' 'Let us rest. The poor fellow must be worn out,' put in George. 'I feel tired enough myself, now that the hot excitement has died down.'.