II.

On his visit to Hawaii, Kaululaau was accompanied by a number of

companions of his own disposition and temperament. Among them was

Kamakaua, a young Maui chief, who had followed him into exile and

was thoroughly devoted to his interests. He was brave, courtly

and intelligent, and in personal appearance somewhat resembled the

prince. The crew and most of the attendants of the prince had been

selected by Kamakaua, including the chief navigator and astrologer;

and however competent they may have been in their respective stations,

it was discovered during the voyage that they were no less efficient

as musicians and dancers. Hence there was no lack of amusement as

the huge double canoe breasted the waves of Alenuihaha Channel,

and on the morning of the third day stood off the village of Waipio,

in the district of Hamakua, Hawaii.

At that time Kauholanui-mahu, father of the noted Kiha, was king of

Hawaii. His wife was Neula, a chiefess of Maui, who had inherited

very considerable possessions in the neighborhood of Honuaula,

on that island. As the climate of the locality was salubrious,

and the neighboring waters abounded abundantly in fish, the royal

couple made frequent and sometimes lengthy visits thither. These

visits were usually made without the knowledge of Kakaalaneo, and the

unexplained attachment of the Hawaiian king to the comparatively small

inheritance of his wife on a neighboring island began to be regarded

with suspicion, and had become a theme for speculation and inquiry

at the court of Lahaina.

At the time of the visit of Kaululaau to Waipio, Kauholanui had

been absent for some months on Maui, leaving Neula in charge of the

government of Hawaii. Attributing the absence of the king to deliberate

neglect, Neula had become greatly dissatisfied, and whispers of coming

trouble were rife throughout the island. All this was doubtless known

to Kaululaau, and, as the royal residence was at Waipio, it was upon

the beach below it that he landed with his party and drew up his

double canoe.

The presence and state of the strangers were soon heralded to the

queen, and she promptly despatched messengers, courteously inviting

the prince and his personal retainers to become her guests at the

royal hale, at the same time giving orders for the accommodation of

the humbler of his attendants and followers, as was the hospitable

custom of the time.

Accepting the invitation, Kaululaau and four of his chiefly companions

were provided with quarters within the palace enclosure, and their

food was served from the royal table. In the afternoon Kaululaau was

accorded an audience with the queen, during which he presented his

friends, including Kamakaua.

The prince whiled away nearly a month at Waipio, and many formal

entertainments were given in his honor. Neula was unusually agreeable,

and was soon on terms of friendly intimacy both with the prince and

Kamakaua. This was exactly what Kaululaau desired, since it enabled

him to devise and assist in the execution of a scheme for bringing the

king back from Maui and keeping him thereafter within his own kingdom.

Under the instructions of Kaululaau, Kamakaua assumed to be greatly

smitten with the charms of the queen. As she was a comely woman, and

somewhat vain of her personal appearance, the conquest of the handsome

chief gratified her; but his attentions developed the fact that he

had a rival in Noakua, a chief of Kohala. This discovery simplified

the plans of the prince, and relieved Kamakaua of a dangerous duty

in the end. In pressing his suit he found a pretext for informing

the queen that the continued absence of the king was due to the fact

that he had taken another wife, with whom he was living at Honuaula,

and that he had ceased to care either for his kingdom or his family.

While Kamakaua was pouring this poison into the ears of Neula,

Kaululaau, who had made the acquaintance of Noakua, was planting

in the mind of that chief the seeds of sedition. He flattered him

with the opinion that he was made to rule, and by degrees developed

to him a plan through which, with the favor of the queen, he could

seize the government, unite the principal chiefs in his support,

and prevent Kauholanui from returning to Hawaii.

The ambition of Noakua, and anger of the queen at the presumed neglect

and infidelity of her husband, soon harmonized them in a plot against

the absent king. Preparations for the revolt began to be observed,

when Kaululaau, not wishing to be openly identified with the dangerous

movement, quietly embarked with his party for Hilo, where he remained

to watch the progress of the struggle which he had been instrumental

in originating.

The prince had been in Hilo but a few days when a lunapai arrived

from Waipio, summoning the chief of the district to repair thither

with eight hundred warriors, and announcing the assumption of the

sovereignty of the island by Neula. Similar notifications were sent

to the chiefs of the other districts of the kingdom, and soon all

was excitement from Kau to Kohala.

Hearing of the revolt, Kauholanui, who had been engaged in constructing

a fish-pond at Keoneoio, in the neighborhood of Honuaula, left Maui

at once with less than a hundred spears, and, landing in Kona, whose

chief could be relied upon, he started overland for Waipio. The

revolution was unpopular, and with great unanimity the chiefs and

people rallied to the standard of the king. The struggle was brief. A

battle was fought near Waimea, resulting in the defeat of the rebel

army and the death of Noakua.

This ended the revolt. As a punishment to Neula the king took another

wife. But the object of Kaululaau was accomplished, for Kauholanui

never again visited Maui, although the queen spent much of her

time thereafter at Honuaula, where her favorite guest and friend

was Kamakaua.

Leaving Hilo, Kaululaau and his party leisurely drifted along the

coasts of Puna until they reached the borders of Kau, when they landed

at Keauhou to spend a few days in fishing and surf-riding.

Weary of the sport, Kaululaau left the bathers in the surf, one

afternoon, and threw himself under the shade of a hala tree near the

shore. Watching the clouds and the sea-birds circling in the heavens

above him, he fell asleep, and when he awoke his eyes fell upon a

beautiful woman sitting upon a rock not more than a hundred paces

distant, and silently watching the swimmers as they came riding in

on the crests of the rollers. Her skirts were a pau spangled with

crystals, and over her shoulders hung a short mantle of the colors

of a rainbow. Her long hair was held back by a lei of flowers, and

her wrists and ankles were adorned with circlets of tiny shells of

pink and white.

The appearance of the woman dazzled him, and after gazing for some

time, and rubbing his eyes to be sure that he was not dreaming, he

rose to his feet and approached the radiant being. Advancing within

four or five paces of the woman, apparently unobserved, he stopped,

and with a cough attracted her attention. Turning her face toward

him, he greeted her courteously, and requested permission to approach

nearer and converse with her. Her appearance indicated that she was

a person of rank, and he did not feel like trespassing uninvited upon

her privacy. She did not deign to make any reply to his request, but,

after scanning him from head to foot, turned her face toward the sea

again with a contemptuous toss of the head.

He hesitated for a moment, and then turned and strode rapidly down

to the beach, where his double canoe had been safely drawn up on the

sands. "In the guise of a bather," thought the prince, "she evidently

mistakes me for a servant. I will approach her in the garb to which

my rank entitles me, and see what effect that will have."

Entering the canoe, he girded his loins with a gaudy maro, hung round

his neck a palaoa, and threw over his shoulders a royal mantle of

yellow feathers. Then, crowning his head with a brilliant feather

helmet, he selected a spear of the length of six paces and stepped

from the canoe. As he did so he stumbled. "This means that I have

forgotten or omitted something of importance," said the prince to

himself, stopping and in detail scanning his equipments. At that moment

a lizard ran across his path and entered a hole in the earth. This

brought to mind his battle with the gigantic gnome on Lanai, and with

a smile he re-entered the canoe. Taking from a calabash, where it had

been for months secreted, the charmed spear-point of Lono, he affixed

it firmly to the point of a javelin, and, thus equipped, again sought

the presence of the fascinating being by whom he had been repulsed.

Advancing as before, he once more craved permission to approach near

enough to drink in the beauty of her eyes. But she seemed to be in

no mood to consent. Scanning him in his changed apparel, with an air

of indifference she said:

"You need not have taken the trouble to bedeck yourself with royal

feathers. I knew you before, as I know you now, to be Kaululaau,

son of Kakaalaneo, moi of Maui. I do not desire your company."

"Since you know who I am, I must claim the right to insist upon my

request, unless you can show, indeed, that you are of equal or better

rank." Saying this, the prince took a step forward.

"Then come," replied the woman, "since you are rude enough to attempt

it. Sit at my feet and tell me of your love, and I will search the

caves for squid and beat the kapa for you."

The prince advanced joyfully, and was about to seat himself at the

feet of the lovely being, when with a cry of pain he sprang back. The

rock he had touched was as hot as if it had just been thrown from

the crater of a volcano.

"Come," said the woman tauntingly; "do you not see that I am waiting

for you?"

Again the prince advanced, but the earth for two or three paces around

her was glimmering with heat, and he hastily withdrew to where the

ground and rocks were cool. He was now satisfied that he was dealing

with some one wielding supernatural powers, and resolved to test the

efficacy of the charmed point of his javelin.

"Why do you not come?" continued the woman in a tone of mingled

defiance and reproach.

"Because the earth where you are sitting is too warm for my feet,"

replied the prince, innocently. "Come where I am standing, and I

will sit beside you." And with the point of his javelin he marked

upon the ground the boundaries of a space around him.

"Retire some paces, and I will do so," replied the woman,

confidently. The prince withdrew, as requested, and she quietly

removed to the spot where he had been standing.

"Now come," said the woman, reseating herself; "perhaps you will find

it cooler here."

"I hope so," returned the prince, as he began cautiously to

advance. He crossed the line marked by the point of his javelin,

and felt no heat. He took three more steps forward, and the earth was

still cool. Another step, which brought him within two paces of the

enchantress, convinced him that her powers were impotent within the

boundaries of the line he had drawn, and with a sudden leap forward

he caught her in his arms.

Astounded at the failure of her powers, and humiliated at her defeat,

the woman struggled to free herself from the embrace of the prince;

but within the charmed circle she possessed but the strength of a

simple woman, and was compelled to yield to the supreme indignities

of superior force.

Exasperated beyond measure, she at length succeeded in eluding his

grasp and springing beyond the fatal line. The prince followed,

but she was now herself, and he could neither overtake nor restrain

her. Retreating some distance up the hill, she suddenly stopped

and awaited his approach. She permitted him to advance within forty

or fifty paces of her, when in the space of a breath she abandoned

her captivating disguise and stood forth in the form of Pele, the

dreadful goddess of Kilauea. Her eyes were bright as the midday sun,

and her hair was like a flame of fire.

The prince stopped in dismay. The goddess raised her hand, and at

her feet burst forth a stream of molten lava, rolling fiercely down

upon the prince, as if to engulf him. He started to escape by flight,

but the stream widened and increased in speed as it followed. Fearful

that it would overtake him before he could reach the sea, he thought

of his javelin, and with the point hastily drew a line in front of the

advancing flood. Continuing his flight and looking back, he discovered,

to his great relief, that the stream had stopped abruptly at the line

he had drawn, and could not pass it. Passing into a ravine, the angry

flow sought to reach the sea through its channel, and thus cut off

the retreat of the prince; but he crossed the depression, marking a

line as he went, and the fiery avalanche was stayed at the limit.

Observing that she was thwarted by some power whose element seemed

to be of the earth, Pele summoned her brother Keuakepo from Kilauea,

and a shower of fire and ashes descended upon Kaululaau and his

companions. Leaping into the sea to avoid the fire, they dragged the

double canoe from its moorings, and, swimming and pushing it through

the breakers, escaped from the coast with but little injury.