Mapuhi looked fear and reproach at his wife. It was her voice that had
betrayed them.

"And since when has Mapuhi, my son, denied his old mother?" the voice
went on.

"No, no, I have not--Mapuhi has not denied you," he cried. "I am not
Mapuhi. He is on the east end of the lagoon, I tell you."

Ngakura sat up in bed and began to cry. The matting started to shake.

"What are you doing?" Mapuhi demanded.

"I am coming in," said the voice of Nauri.

One end of the matting lifted. Tefara tried to dive under the
blankets, but Mapuhi held on to her. He had to hold on to something.
Together, struggling with each other, with shivering bodies and
chattering teeth, they gazed with protruding eyes at the lifting mat.
They saw Nauri, dripping with sea water, without her ahu, creep in.
They rolled over backward from her and fought for Ngakura's blanket
with which to cover their heads.

"You might give your old mother a drink of water," the ghost said
plaintively.

"Give her a drink of water," Tefara commanded in a shaking voice.

"Give her a drink of water," Mapuhi passed on the command to Ngakura.