About the blazing feast-house clustered the eyes of the foe, Watching, hand upon weapon, lest ever a soul should flee,
Shading the brow from the glare, straining the neck to see
Only, to leeward, the flames in the wind swept far and wide, And the forest sputtered on fire; and there might no man abide. Thither Rahero crept, and dropped from the burning eaves ,
And crouching low to the ground, in a treble covert of leaves And fire and volleying smoke, ran for the life of his soul
Unseen; and behind him under a furnace of ardent coal,
Cairned with a wonder of flame, and blotting the night with smoke, Blazed and were smelted together the bones of all his folk.
He fled unguided at first; but hearing the breakers roar ,
Thitherward shaped his way, and came at length to the shore. Sound-li
