Barbara’s hand was on the door and Dikon had reached out towards the self-starter. They were arrested by a cry which, though it endured for no longer than two seconds, filled the night so shockingly that it hung on the air as a sensation after it had ceased to be a sound.

An observer would have seen in the half-light that their faces were all turned in one direction as if their heads had been jerked by a wire. On the silence that followed upon the scream there came again the monstrously domestic noise of a boiling pot.

Chapter 9
Mr Questing Goes Down for the Third Time

They were not alone for more than two minutes. A subdued hubbub had broken out in the village around them. Doors were opened and slammed. A woman’s voice—was it Mrs Te Papa’s?—was raised in a long wail.

‘What,’ asked Mrs Claire steadily, ‘was that dreadful noise?’

They began to protect themselves with improbabilities. It was the small boys trying to frighten them. It was someone repeating the death cry of the girl in the song. The last suggestion came from Dikon, and as soon as he had made it he felt its reflection in his hearers.

‘Will you wait here by the car?’ he said. ‘I’d better go and see if anyone’s in trouble out there.’ He moved his hand towards the pools. The open space before the meeting house was filled with shadowy forms. The woman broke out again into a wail. Other voices joined hers: ‘Aue! Aue! Taukiri e!’ Rua spoke authoritatively out of the darkness and the wailing stopped.

‘Get into the car, Barbara, and wait,’ said Dikon.

‘You mustn’t go out there by yourself.’

‘I’ve got a torch in the car. In the rack above your head, Mrs Claire. May I have it?’ Mrs Claire gave it to him.

‘Not by yourself,’ said Barbara. ‘I’m coming too.’

‘Please stay here. It’s probably nothing at all, but I’d better look.’

‘Stay here, dear,’ said Mrs Claire. ‘Keep to the white flags, Mr Bell, won’t you?’

Dikon called into the darkness: ‘Mr Te Kahu! What’s wrong?’

‘Who is that?’ Rua’s voice held a note of surprise. ‘I know of nothing that is wrong. Someone cried out. Where are you?’

Mrs Claire put her head out of the car window. ‘Here we are, Rua.’

Dikon switched on his torch, shouted that he was going to the thermal reserve, and set out.