Southward across the bay lay the "hapu" (settlement) of Ngatahi, of which tribe Parema was chief. Now Parema was a man of guile, crafty and faithless. When words were fairest on his lips, then treachery was blackest in his heart. Bitter had been the feud between the tribes, but for a year there was peace. Kokako was old, and weary with much fighting. His strong sons had fallen in battle, and of his children there remained to him but one daughter, and she was very near to his heart. Heruini, a maiden of seventeen, beautiful as the dawning, loved her cousin Taurau, and they decided to wed. Already preparations for the marriage were being made. Kokako was glad that the youth had found favour in Heruini's sight, for Taurau was his dead brother's son, and he thought: "It is well. Taurau will be chief at my death, and after him the son of Heruini. Thus shall my seed not perish from the land." Now it befell that Parema and certain of his followers, to the number of two hundred, came to visit Ngatitoa. That they were uninvited did not matter--the ovens were heated and a feast was made for the visitors. Afterwards, as the chiefs talked in the "Whare-runanga" (house of assembly), Parema rose, saying: "Greeting, Kokako. It is peace between Ngatahi and Ngatitoa. Miami, my wife, groweth old. Give me, therefore, thy daughter Heruini. I would make her my second wife. Thus shall peace be strengthened between the tribes." The insult was great. That Kokako's daughter, their "wahine-nui" (chieftainess), should be sought as a mere secondary wife fired the blood of the younger warriors. Taurau and many other Ngatitoa sprang erect, their weapons in their hands. Yet Parema was safe, for he was their guest, and the laws of Maori hospitality forbade violence. Kokako stilled the tumult and answered scornfully:-- "Parema mistakes. He has feasted too well, and talks with a proud stomach. He is not now in the 'hapu' of the Hakerau tribes, who sell their women like pigs. (Parema's wife was of the Hakerau.) To-morrow Heruini weds Taurau, my brother's son. Let Parema and his followers attend the 'hiu' (wedding-feast)." The sleeping "whares" of the single women occupied one side of the "marae" (open space in the centre of a "pah"). Here Heruini, with two of her favourite women, slept in a separate "whare." The Ngatahi visitors camped without the walls. In the middle of the night, towards the dawning, when sleep is heaviest on the senses, Taurau, where he slept in the men's "whare," sprang from his couch. In his ears rang a woman's scream, shrill and piercing. He heard his name called in affrighted accents. Love's ears are quick to distinguish. It was the voice of Heruini. With a shout to his comrades to follow, he raced across the "marae" to see, in the moonlight, Heruini struggling in the arms of Parema and some of his followers! All unarmed as he was, he sprang on Parema and bore him to the ground. In the confusion the trembling girl escaped.