“All that is plain enough, Marama.  But why?”

“Have I not told you, Friend-from-the-Sea, that yonder hill which is called Orofena, whence this island takes its name, is sacred?”

“You said so, but what of it?”

“This:  to set foot thereon is to die and, I suppose, great as you are, you, too, can die like others.  At least, although I love you, had you not come away from that canoe I was about to discover whether this is so.”

“Then for what are the canoes used?” I asked with irritation.

“You see that flat rock, Friend, with the hole beyond, which is the mouth of a cave that appeared only in the great storm that brought you to our land?  They are used to convey offerings which are laid upon the rock.  Beyond it no man may go, and since the beginning no man has ever gone.”

“Offerings to whom?”

“To the Oromatuas, the spirits of the great dead who live there.”

“Oromatuas?  Oro!  It is always something to do with Oro.  Who and what is Oro?”

“Oro is a god, Friend, though it is true that the priests say that above him there is a greater god called Degai, the Creator, the Fate who made all things and directs all things.”

“Very well, but why do you suppose that Oro, the servant of Degai, lives in that mountain?  I thought that he lived in a grove yonder where your priests, as I am told, have an image of him.”

“I do not know, Friend-from-the-Sea, but so it has been held from the beginning.  The image in the grove is only visited by his spirit from time to time.  Now, I pray you, come back and before the priests discover that you have been here, and forget that there are any canoes upon this lake.”

So, thinking it wisest, I turned the matter with a laugh and walked away with him to the village.  On our road I tried to extract some more information but without success.  He did not know who built the ruin upon the mountain, or who destroyed it.  He did not know how the terraces came there.  All he knew was that during the convulsion of Nature which resulted in the tidal wave that had thrown our ship upon the island, the mountain had been seen to quiver like a tree in the wind as though within it great forces were at work.  Then it was observed to have risen a good many more feet above the surface of the lake, as might be noted by the water mark upon the shore, and then also the mouth of the cave had appeared.  The priests said that all this was because the Oromatuas who dwelt there were stirring, which portended great things.  Indeed great things had happened—­for had we not arrived in their land?

I thanked him for what he had told me, and, as there was nothing more to be learned, dropped the subject which was never mentioned between us again, at least not for a long while.  But in my heart I determined that I would reach that mountain even though to do so I must risk my life.  Something seemed to call me to the place; it was as though I were being drawn by a magnet.