“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[211] 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[212] 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 ............