"I had indeed. I went back on our tracks very nearly as far as the cave where Roland lay concealed, when we brought him away from the Gate Pah. I thought I might meet some of my father's people, who would have made short work of these bloodthirsty Hau-Haus. But he had gone off towards Opotiki, as a report had come of another rising. But luckily I met some one, and it will go far to save our lives." "Who was it?" asked Hypatia, breathlessly. "It was Winiata. He had heard of these Hau-Haus being on the march, and that Ngarara had persuaded Kereopa to follow us up." "And what aid did he give you?" "Merely this--that a body of Ngatiporu were following up this _taua_, led by the most dreaded warrior in all New Zealand, Ropata Waha Waha." At the mention of this name, so well known throughout the length and breadth of New Zealand-- "In close fight a champion grim, In camps a leader sage"-- Hypatia could hardly repress a cry of joy. "Then perhaps we may be saved, after all." "If he comes in time; and God grant he may. He should be very close now. And I know Winiata will travel without rest or food till he strikes his trail. And yet I have a foreboding that one of us will die. So said the tohunga, whose words never failed yet. I cannot shake off the feeling." "You have overworked yourself," said Hypatia. "You can have had little rest, food, or sleep since you left yesterday. It is the result of fatigue and anxiety." "Anxiety has too often been my lot," said the girl, with a deep accent of sadness. "But fatigue I never felt yet. These wretches are spinning out their dance. They had better make the most of it. If all goes well, it is the last some of them will ever join in. Now, listen! Do you hear nothing?" Hypatia bent her ear towards the forest, and listened with all the eagerness which the situation demanded. A faint murmur once, and once only, made itself audible. "It is the sound of the breeze among the pines," said she at length. "Listen again! Do you hear nothing?" "Only a far-off sound like the rippling of the river. Once I thought I heard the trampling of feet; but it must be a mistake." "It is no mistake," said Erena. "I hear the steady tramp of a large body of men; and so would these fools, if they were not too much occupied with their absurd dance, which they intend to finish up with blood. And so it will; but not as they think."