Silversword by Charles Knief Page A

people,” I said. “They are sacred, if I remember correctly. The most important part of us, the part that lasts after our flesh is gone.” I noticed that Tutu Mae rubbed her own elbow as I spoke, and I wondered if she might have been considering her own mortality.
    â€œGood, Mr. Caine,” said Miss Wong. “The bones of the common folk are honored. Bones of great men are revered. The bones of the greatest king these islands ever knew are valuable far beyond the mere scientific and historic. They have great cultural and religious significance, as well.”
    â€œSo you think you found Kamehameha.”
    â€œI think I found his tomb. We’re not sure. We’re not even sure how to proceed with provenance. Because of where it is, and because of what is buried with it, I have a strong belief that what we found is the final resting place of Kamehameha I.”
    I glanced out the window, watching the tourists playing on the sand and the gentle surf of Waikiki. This was one of the old king’s favorite beaches. I wondered how he would react to the giant hotels, the ABC Stores, and Crazy Shirts.
    â€œAre you listening, Mr. Caine?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œPeople have sought the bones of Kamehameha I for centuries,” she continued. “Every so often someone claims to have found them. And then the claim is proven false and the poor soul is reinterred. There are plenty of bones in the mountains.”
    I nodded again, remembering the hundreds of skeletons
uncovered during the last hurricane. It took months to get them all back into their mountain burial caves.
    â€œThe search for Kamehameha has been described as the Hawaiian Holy Grail. It would be very good for the person who finds the actual site. If it were handled correctly.”
    Kimo brought the rum-laced coffee. I saw that he’d found a beer for himself.
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    â€œIf the site were plundered, if the material were removed from its location and brought to a museum or a university, there could be trouble.”
    â€œHow?” It seemed odd, speaking of old bones as if they actually had power to cause trouble.
    â€œThe bones carry the mana, or spirit energy, of the family. We cannot move the bones because of the harm it would do to the descendents of the person in the tomb. I have been very careful to work around them. It has caused us a great deal of additional tasks, and it is not in the best of locations. But we have been extremely careful not to disturb the bones. You, of course, know about scattering the bones?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œThat is why Kamehameha’s body was hidden in the first place. His people were afraid that if his bones fell into the wrong hands they could be used against his own. Or, worse, they would be scattered. There is a cursing chant, when you scatter the bones of your enemy. It destroys his spirit for all eternity.”
    I nodded, trying to go along. This wasn’t my area. It was like listening to ghost stories. Interesting, but futile.
    â€œScattering his bones would be the worst thing that could happen to the Hawaiian people,” she continued. If she had expected a reaction from me she had been disappointed. When I had nothing to say I contented myself with silence. “Because he was so powerful and important, the chief ali’i, the scattering of his bones could possibly lead to the destruction of the Hawaiian people’s spirit energy.”

    I stared at her, wondering how this obviously bright woman could believe this kind of nonsense. She didn’t see the disbelief in my eyes. If she did, it didn’t bother her because she plunged ahead.
    â€œIn the hands of the Hawaiian separatists, the bones could become the catalyst for revolution. Those who had them would feel that they had been granted a power they would not otherwise have.”
    â€œYou’re not just talking about the Antiquities Repatriation Act?”
    â€œYou