“Be just and fear not.
Let all the ends thou aim’st at be
Thy God’s, and Truth’s; then, when thou fall’st,
Thou fall’st a blessed Martyr.”
SHAKESPEARE.
Hewahewa had been a silent witness of the two interviews. His curiosity
was excited by what Olmedo had said of his religion to Pohaku, and he
desired to know more of a faith so new to him. From the first, Tolta had
been an object of jealousy and suspicion, as likely to cross his own
ambition; but the wily Mexican in winning the confidence of Pohaku, had
also paid such court to him, in his character of high-priest, that he
could find no positive cause of distrust. He had supported his schemes,
therefore, because they enlarged his own field, relying upon his own
cautious and calculating policy to reap the harvest of which the other
two would sow the seeds. Without comprehending a word of what had passed
between the Mexican and Spaniard, the deportment of the latter, as he
rejected Tolta’s double treachery, attracted his attention, and he
determined to know for himself the actual relations between them.
When Tolta left Olmedo, Hewahewa went out also, saying to his associate,
“Thanks, Mexican; a rare festival you have provided for us to-morrow. An
offering like this is a new event in Hawaii. Sweet will be your revenge.
May Pele prosper you,” and touching noses, according to the national mode
of salutation, they parted.
No sooner, however, was Tolta fairly out of sight, than Hewahewa retraced
his steps to Olmedo’s prison. The guards were his own men, because the
prisoner was in his custody, preparatory to the solemn rites of the next
day. He alone, besides Tolta, had the right of access at any hour, for
the victim once consecrated to the gods was tabu, but permitted to feast,
if he could, in view of his terrible destiny.
Olmedo was on his knees, with crucifix uplifted, praying for strength for
himself, and that Beatriz might be spared the fate to which she seemed
doomed. “Not our will, but thine be done, our Saviour and our God; yet
if this trial and death be necessary that we may enter Paradise, O grant
that I, the enlisted soldier of the cross, may alone bear the torment.
Accept my sacrifice, Queen of Heaven, pity and save thy daughter. Let
not these heathens triumph in her agony, but take her peacefully to thy
bosom, Virgin Mother,” and his eyes overflowed with grief as he thought
of his utter helplessness to aid her. With his prayer, however, a calm
gradually came to his spirit. It could not be called hope, but it brought
peace, and renewed his trust in divine aid. A demeanor so unlike the
dogged despair, or frantic fear to which he had been accustomed in his
victims for the altar, surprised the high-priest, and imbued him with
a respect for his prisoner, that he had never before felt for any one.
Olmedo was so wrapped in his own emotions, that his entrance had been
unnoticed. Tapping him on the shoulder as he still knelt, Hewahewa said
to him, “You pray then, brother priest. Who to?”
“I am an unworthy servant of the Holy Church. Have you heard of the
Christian’s God? I pray to Him.”
“Nothing but what Tolta tells. He must be more fiendish than is our Pele
in her anger, if he delights in such deeds as your countrymen have done
in Mexico. But I believe in neither. There is no God but what we make for
ourselves. Tell me your thought. I would know what makes you so calm, in
sight of a death so terrible?”
“Willingly. First tell me, who created Hawaii?”
“I know not. It sprang from night or chaos, so our bards say,” replied
Hewahewa.
“Something from nothing. Do you believe this? Where does a man go when he
dies?”
“Back to night, or everlasting sleep.”
“Then, you think, that man and the earth came by chance out of nothing,
and return to nothing?”
“That is my thought. We must make the most of life. There is no other.
I believe in what I have, in what I feel and see, but in nothing more.
Death finishes all. Do you not fear to go back to nothing?”
“If I thought as you think, I should. But the earth you love, and the
life you covet teach differently. Can the canoe live on the ocean without
a pilot? Does the taro ripen without the sun? Think you that this earth
drifts at random in space, without a hand to guide it? No! the Supreme
Being made this world and man to dwell therein. He has made also a heaven
for the good, and a hell for the evil. He governs all, and sent his Son
ages gone by to tell us there was eternal life, and we should be happy or
miserable as we obeyed the commands he left. Among other things, he told
us white men to go abroad over the earth and tell to all nations the glad
tidings. I am one of his soldiers. But we carry no arms. We fight not,
we teach as he taught, and if we are put to death, we pray for those who
kill our bodies, that they may believe as we do. Then will they see that
death is but a portal to a more glorious life. There are bad men among us
white as among you, who love evil and commit the crimes Tolta tells of.
Our mission is as much to them as to you. We preach love and faith in the
Great God to all, and it is because we know that he will receive us into
Paradise that we dread not death.”
Much after this manner did Olmedo talk to Hewahewa, who listed
attentively to words which opened to him new trains of thought. He felt a
desire to save him from his impending fate, that he might hear more. But
the whole population were assembling to witness a sacrifice such as had
never before been offered in Hawaii, and he dared not disappoint them.
Besides, Tolta and Pohaku were not to be easily balked. Musing for a few
moments he abruptly said to Olmedo, “I would see more of you. You must
not die. I will provide a substitute; give me your garments for him and
you shall be secreted, while the howling mob will think you have been
thrown to Pele.”
“Not so! I would not purchase my life at the expense of an innocent
victim. I thank you for your intended kindness to me, but this must not
be.”
“Are you mad? What is the life of a slave to you! He will be but too much
honored to take your place. Refuse me not. I am determined on this.”
“Never! My religion forbids even evil thoughts, much more deeds. Free
me if you will, for that I would be most grateful. But you know not the
spirit of a Christian, if you think him so base as to purchase his safety
by a crime.”
“Strange being, what means this? Soon the sacred drums will sound, and
the criers announce that the solemn festival has begun. Then it will be
beyond my power to make the exchange. Yield before it be too late. Hast
thou no daughter, no wife to live for?”
“Daughter! alas I have a daughter. Think of me no longer. Take her from
the toils of that Mexican, and I will even bless you, and pray the Son
for you in heaven to which I am going. She would despise me, more if
possible than I should myself, could I accept my life on your terms.
Mention not that again. Have you a daughter? I see by your face you
have. By the love you bear her, as you would not have her dishonored by a
villain, or see her a mangled corpse, save her. You can: will you not?”
and he grasped the hand of Hewahewa and wrung it in his anguish.
He had struck the only chord of feeling in his gaoler. “Where is this
woman,” he asked; “for your sake I will see her.”
Olmedo then detailed their capture and subsequent history up to the time
he was violently separated from Beatriz, and finally the offer of Tolta
to redeem them both, and his contemplated treason to Pohaku, provided
he would assent to his designs upon her. Hewahewa listened eagerly to
every word by which the thread of his rival’s projects was unravelled to
him. He now saw clearly the game he was pursuing, and without betraying
his intention, simply said, “If not too late, I will do as you wish. She
shall be a sister to my daughter. Courage. Farewell.”