a was brave as well as cruel. he did not doubt that hiwa’s spirit had appeared in his camp and on the heights of kukuihaele; but, although it troubled him greatly, he hoped it was a lying spirit. did not the whole nation know that the moi wahine had committed the unpardonable sin and had died from ku’s implacable wrath, which descends from parent to child even unto the third and fourth generation? how, then, could her claimant to the throne enjoy ku’s favor? and how could he be of the sacred race which the gods had sent from heaven to rule men? yet hiwa’s spirit had thrice proclaimed him as heaven-born, the chosen of ku, and living witnesses had seen him [85] and hiwa and kaanaana issue from the depths of the sea, where mortals unaided by the gods would have perished. superstition balanced superstition. men were afraid to support aelani, and afraid to fight against him, lest the heavy wrath of ku should fall upon them.
it was not so with the spearmen of kohala. kaanaana had always believed that aa invented the story of hiwa’s sin as a pretext for hunting her to death, and what the high-chief believed was accepted in his own domains without question. had it not proved true? was she not now with them in living flesh and blood? was not the story of her rescue by ukanipo, god of sharks, reasonable and in accord with the sacred meles that had come down from the wise men of old? most convincing of all, would ku have permitted her to live if she had committed damning sin?
before the spearmen of kohala arrived, aa succeeded in persuading most of his immediate followers, and also himself, that hiwa was a lying spirit. he even won over kaaahu, lord of honokaa, who was swaying [86] between opposing opinions like a fern in the wind, and set him and his men in the front of battle, where they could not easily run away.
the old men, the women, and the children had collected in the puuhonua. this was a city of refuge corresponding to those of ancient israel. these sanctuaries, some of them very large and with accommodations for many people, were scattered throughout the hawaiian islands. their gates stood always open, and the vanquished warrior, the rebel, the red-handed murderer, the violator of tabus, the vilest criminal, or the bitterest enemy of the moi or of the priesthood, was safe when once within their sacred walls. there he offered thanks to the gods for his escape, and, after a few days, was free to depart under their protection. it is said that, in the latter part of the fifteenth century, long after the period of this story, hakau, the cruel, proposed to slaughter the followers of his half-brother, umi, within the sanctuary, and was deterred by the threatening vengeance of the gods—incidentally, also, by his own death, and the complete triumph of umi. where did these [87] people, so remote and isolated, get this and so many other of the customs described in the jewish scriptures?
it was past noon when the conflict began—less than eight hundred tired men attacking twenty-two hundred fresh ones. but as the spearmen of kohala advanced, amazement paralyzed the ranks opposing them. the moi wahine, or her spirit, marched in front, and beside her strode a youth, wearing the royal mamo, who was the living image of papaakahi, the mighty, in his younger days, but of more gigantic stature, and handsomer, and more regal in his bearing, than even that great conqueror.
kaaahu and his men, crying that the dead had come to life, and that aelani must be the chosen of the gods, broke and fled without throwing a spear. they made their way with no great loss to the heights of kukuihaele, and watched the battle in safety. but, in the confusion, aa and his spearmen were forced back, and were hedged in with the cliffs of kukuihaele at their left, and the river at their right, and the sea behind them. they could not run away, and, [88] as they expected no quarter, they fought with desperation. the odds, too, seemed greatly in their favor, for they were picked warriors, many of them nobles, and were fresh, and far outnumbered their assailants.
but doubt and superstitious fear were with them, while the spearmen of kohala were confident of victory, and forgot their weariness in the blood-frenzy of battle. their moi kane was at their head, and beside him the moi wahine, and kaanaana, their high-chief, the foremost warrior in the land. so, although they fell thick and fast before aa’s skilled spearmen, they pressed on and slew and slew and slew. the moi kane and the moi wahine and the lord of kohala, excelling all others in deeds of strength, and skill and valor, were ever in advance, their spears, dripping with blood, yet they received no hurt so that men said that ku went before them. they continually strove to reach aa and kill him, for his death would end the war; but his spearmen, knowing the rout and slaughter that would follow, protected him with dense ranks of spears.
then aelani did a marvellous thing, one [89] that was told in after ages, which no man could have done without long and patient training. he hurled a spear over the heads of aa’s men, fully seventy yards, so that it struck aa below the waist and passed through his body. aa fell, and his warriors, supposing that he was dead, became panic-stricken, and, being hemmed in by the cliffs and the sea and the river, were slaughtered without mercy.
just as the fighting changed into a butchery, aelani plunged into the river and swam across, and ran with all his speed towards aa’s palace. he had heard a shriek, and, looking that way, saw manoa rush from the palace in the direction of his army, pursued by three men armed with spears. so he hastened to her rescue. as he drew near to the men, they flung their spears at him at the same moment. he evaded one of the spears, and caught the other two in his hands as he had been taught to do in his childhood. then he flung the two spears back, killing two of the men with them, and the third he killed with a stone. thus he saved manoa’s life.
[90] the thing was the wickedness of aa, for, knowing that lilii and manoa were of the divine blood of wakea and papa in the female line, he had commanded that they should be killed if the battle went against him, so that the victor might have no goddess-born wife. he had assigned the murder to the three men he trusted most, and they killed the mother before the daughter escaped.
the slaughter ended when darkness came. a few of aa’s men scaled the heights of kukuihaele; a few swam out to sea and got away; a few score swam across the river and reached the puuhonua and were safe, but many more were speared in attempting it. the greater part perished. a fourth of kaanaana’s men perished also. in all more than a thousand men lay dead and dying on the field. the victorious survivors, worn out with marching and slaughter, sank on the ground beside them and slept until morning.
hiwa and kaanaana slept from dark till dawn; but the young moi kane, who had that day won his kingdom, lay awake many hours, and when sleep came to him he dreamed of love, and not of glory.
