And then began a dance indeed. No one there but was _pourewarewa_--half-mad--with religious ecstasy, and wholly consumed with hatred of the detested Pakeha. So round and round they circled, hands joined, at an ever increasing speed, till the lighter of them, dragged off their feet by their stronger, swifter comrades, seemed to fly like witches and warlocks through the air. And all the time the infernal din went on--the barking scream of Hau-hau! Hau-hau! the blasphemous invocation, the senseless jumble of word and phrase. It was a revolting scene, but so wildly exciting, that the watchers forgot their fatigue and, more, the danger they ran from discovery. Slowly the mad orgies came to an end, and as one by one the dancers gave way under the tremendous physical and mental strain, they fell to the ground. And where they fell they lay, to be pounded and bruised under the naked feet of those who still leapt and whirled around the pole. 'We had better make off,' whispered George,' for, if they find us here, we shall neither of us see to-morrow.' 'Right!' With the word Terence half-turned to begin the descent. But at that very moment he became aware of an ominous sound, unheard before in the hideous din--the soft pad-pad of scores of naked feet, running swiftly through the forest. In a flash George grabbed him by the wrist. 'Lie close! We are cut off. A number of them are coming up the hill.' Still as mice they lay, while the noise of the onrush grew louder, and at last Te Karearea, raising himself wearily, shouted hoarsely, 'Awake, fools! Awake, and stand to your arms, unless ye desire to be slain as ye lie. Ha! Awake!' Instantly a deep voice shouted from the ravine, 'All is well, O Far-darting Hawk! We come from afar to do thy will. Forward, brothers, to salute your chief!' A loud yell responded to this exhortation, and the men coming up the hillside charged forward at a tremendous rate, while George and Terence, feeling that now, indeed, their lives were the sport of fate, threw themselves flat upon the ground and awaited the issue. George's belt had worked round, so that his greenstone club was in front, the hard handle pressing painfully against his breast-bone. As he had no time to adjust the belt, he cautiously raised himself on his hands and knees, drew out the weapon, and laid it among the fern in front of him. Before he could sink to earth again, the vanguard of the new company crashed up the side of the ravine and broke, a wildly-rushing wave, on all sides of him. Not daring to move, he held perfectly still, while the reinforcements poured by, the tramp and clatter of their bare feet upon dead wood and fern sounding a jarring undernote to their yell and song. The hindmost of them passed swiftly, avoiding almost miraculously the crouching figures in the fern, and George and Terence, half-suffocated, breathed again.