The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-09-11

the foreign woman lies sleepless. The will tell"
The eyes of Kahaleauki held could not close
mine and yet they felt strangely heavy, weighted by
something that was not sleep
Now, said the brown boy, 'he says must chew
the ava"
But had not heard him speak. the stone
Kahaieauki fell forward in the position of Kahuna
prayer His smooth brown legs crossed before him.
his smooth brown outspread his wrnkled hands
with their supple fingers resting on the floor. His
eyes lowered The lids still; the bronze
anchor OF his nostrils undisturbed by any passing
breath The red of the cloth his head took some
light from the returning sun and east glow over his
the brown boy beside him chewed and chewed the
ava root AS he chewed he swallowed the juice,
which the of dreams and drunken ecstasies,
and cast the pulp from his mouth into the larger
he poured water over it and taking bunch of the
straw he rolled it between his hands and dipped it
into the in which the fluid had gathered the color
and consistency of muddy coffee and squeezed it about
particles of the root clinging all it, these
he shook off and dipped and squeezed the straw again
cup.
The Kahuna raised his eyes. He took ii leaf
from the tapa and stripped thin piece from it's
center and dipped it in the Then he laid it,
wet, into the smaller cup and poured the ava from
the other it. Then he returned to the posture
of prayer and began again that GREATNESS chant
No. not that-another. This monotone was vibrant
dreadful as it was, had lacked. It surged, single
e1haation above the ava cup and WATCHING listening
and swayed- The light was on his face that never
said to myself, 1T is the power of this sound But
did not know then what power it was nor do 1 now
spoke. The brown boy translated.
1.-THE foreign has enemies. A is laid
on her pillow to keep sleep away. The tells
Kahaeaud stretches out his hands toward the ava
His fixed upon the hen that lies
my knees. The stone is gone The brown boy sits
motonless, his calm, soft glance is his masters
face. 1t shows neither fear nor expectancy My own
l know is filed with both The Kahuna sounds his
dreadful note. He has fallen forward, praying, on
his hands. His baleful glow closer the bird.
His lips curl upward from his teeth. They CLEAN
white upon white against his beard. His head rocks
to and fro his body sways between his rigid arms,
Something crawls ME, stopping the beat of
my heart chilling the breath in nostris. 1 feel
weight my temples weight my breast, a
weight on my nerveless hands long to cry out and
cannot. long to rise and l cannot Then all long
ing passes away. think that / sleeping and
do not care to wake. j think that dying and
do not to live. Sound, sound, sound! 1t is all
that / conscious Of
ceased 1 hear nothing but again. see the
Kahuna sitting cross-legged before his tapa mat
drinking the ava from the bowl see the brown boy
with his soft, calm glance upon his masters face
/ feel the blood returning to heart, the warmth
to my hands. l rise easily now, think, and
mad to be gone l stir slightly and slip back
again. The brown boy gives his hands and I rise
unsteadily to my feet. Something falls from skirts
look down and the hen lying dead upon the floor