Then Te Turi went blind with rage, forgetting his danger, and, just as the Thing won free, he rushed upon it once more and smote it so mighty a blow that its head was crushed like the shell of an egg, and the Thing fell to the ground with a dreadful crash, and sprawled there in the agonies of death. Then did Te Turi swell out his chest and roll up his eyes and poke out his tongue at the Thing, and because he was very glad, he chanted: 'Behold, I have slain the evil Thing which sought to devour me. Ha! With one blow of my naked fist I have slain it, for the gods have made me very strong.' And he looked at the fist which had done this wonderful deed. But lo, a marvel! For the greenstone club, which had dropped from his hand, was now firmly clasped therein, and with the _mere_ of TUMATAUENGA, and not with his naked fist, had he slain the Thing. Now when Te Turi knew that TUMATAUENGA, seeing his extremity, had brought the _mere_ to his hand, he left off boasting, and chanted: 'Lo now the kindness of ATUA! Behold the goodness of TUMATAUENGA! When I forget the debt I owe to TUMATAUENGA, then may ATUA forget me!' So he gave thanks for his great deliverance, and took the skin and the tail-feathers of the dead Thing to make mats for a memory of the marvel, and with a glad heart set off to rejoin his friends and the three men. Yet, even as he thought of them, lo, he heard their voices, and was back at the spot where he had left them. And they ate and drank and were merry, knowing nought, for they had neither seen nor heard anything, so that Te Turi might have thought that he had fallen asleep and dreamed, but for the mat of _kiwi_ feathers and the greenstone club and the parts of the great Thing. And so they six returned to Te Ika A Maui, taking with them many pieces of greenstone and other good things, and so they came home. And Te Turi made mats out of the skin of the Thing; and one he gave to Ngahue, and one to Te Weri, and one to Te Waerau, and one to his wife, and one he made for himself. Yet was there enough left to make mats for all his children who came afterwards, of whom there were ten. But the greenstone _mere_ with the finger-prints of TUMATAUENGA Te Turi kept for himself, and as often as he looked at it, so often did he wonder at the prophecy which the god had spoken with the gift. But at last, remembering that the _mere_ was to pass to his children's children, he ceased from troubling upon a matter which he could not mend. And Te Turi lived long and fought many good fights, being worsted in none. And in the fulness of time this mighty chief passed to join his ancestors, and the _mere_ of TUMATAUENGA and the prophecy he bequeathed to his son and to his son's son after him through all time, until at last they came down to me who tell the tale of them. CHAPTER VII STORM SIGNALS