by G. A. Henty
CHAPTER XV.
THE MASSACRE AT POVERTY BAY.
Another week passed and Wilfrid was able to walk about the house andgarden. A ship was going down in three days, and Mr. Atherton hadarranged with the captain to put into the Mohaka river and land themthere. No change had taken place in the situation. There had been ameeting of the settlers and friendly natives. The latter had offered toerect the stockades for a small fort if the settlers would do theearthworks. This they had agreed to, but the project was abandoned, asMajor Biggs again declared it to be wholly unnecessary. Some of thesettlers, dissatisfied with the result, formed themselves into avigilance committee to watch the ford of the Waipaoa River.
This was done for several nights, but Major Biggs again interfered, andtold them he considered the act to be absurd. The vigilance committee,therefore, ceased to act. A few nights later Te Kooti's people crossedat this very ford. Late in the evening of the 4th of November Mr.Atherton was about to go up to bed when he heard a growl from a dogchained up outside. He listened, and made out the voices of men talkingin low tones. The lower windows had shutters, and these Mr. Atherton hadwith some difficulty persuaded Mr. Sampson, who was himself incredulousas to the possibility of attack, to have fastened up of a night. Mr.Atherton ran upstairs, knocked at the doors of Wilfrid's and thesettler's rooms, and told them to get up instantly, as something waswrong. Then he threw up his window.
"Who is there?" he asked.
"Open the door," a native replied, "we have a message for you."
"You can give me the message here. I shall not come down until I knowwho you are."
"The message is that you are to open the door and come out. Te Kootiwants you."
Mr. Atherton could just make out the figure of the speaker in thedarkness.
"That is my answer," he said as he fired.
A fierce yell from twenty throats rose in the air, and there was a rushtowards the door, while two or three shots were fired at the window. Mr.Atherton had, however, stepped back the instant he had discharged hisrifle, and now, leaning out, discharged the chambers of his revolver inquick succession among the natives gathered round the door. Shrieks andyells arose from them, and they bounded away into the darkness, andagain several musket-shots were fired at the window. By this time thesettler and Wilfrid had both joined Mr. Atherton, having leapt fromtheir beds, seized their arms, and ran out when the first shot wasfired.
"It is Te Kooti's men," Mr. Atherton said. "They have come at last. Iexpect there will be a few minutes before they attack again. You hadbetter throw on some clothes at once and tell the ladies to dressinstantly. We may have to leave the house and try to escape acrosscountry."
Wilfrid and the settler gave the messages, and then returned.
"How many of them do you think there are?" Wilfrid asked.
"About twenty of them, I should say, and we could rely upon beating themoff; but no doubt there are parties told off to the attack of all theoutlying settlers, and when the others have done their work they maygather here."
"Where are they now?" Wilfrid asked as he gazed into the darkness.
"I fancy they are behind that shed over there. They are no doubtarranging their plan of attack. I expect they will try fire. There! doyou see? That is the flash of a match."
A minute later a light was seen to rise behind the shed, and there wasthe sound of breaking wood. The light grew brighter and brighter.
"They will be coming soon," Mr. Atherton said. "Do not throw away ashot. The shingles on this roof are as dry as tinder, and if a burningbrand falls on them the place will be in a blaze in five minutes. Now!"As he spoke a number of natives, each carrying a flaming brand, appearedfrom behind the wood shed. The three rifles cracked out, and as manynatives fell. The farmer began to reload his rifle, while Mr. Athertonand Wilfrid handed theirs to Mrs. Renshaw, who at that moment joinedthem, and opened fire with their revolvers. Only two of Wilfrid's shotstold, but Mr. Atherton's aim was as steady as when firing at a mark. Twoof the natives fell, and four others, throwing down their brands, ranback wounded to the shelter of the wood shed. Their companions, after amoment's hesitation, followed their example. There were now but sixunwounded men out of the twenty who attacked the house.
"There is one of them off for assistance!" Wilfrid exclaimed as hecaught sight of a figure running at full speed from the shed. In anothermoment he was lost in the darkness.
"Now is the time for us to make our escape," Mr. Atherton said, turningfrom the window. "We have succeeded so far, but there may be three timesas many next time, and we must be off. We will get out by a window atthe back of the house and try and make our way across country to theMahia tribe. We shall be safe there."
"But Wilfrid cannot walk a hundred yards," Mrs. Renshaw said.
"Then we must carry him," Mr. Atherton replied cheerfully. "He is nogreat weight, and we can make a litter when we get far enough away. Takea loaf of bread, Mrs. Sampson, a bottle or two of water, and a flask ofspirits. You will find one full on my table. Please hurry up, for thereis not a moment to lose. I will stay here to the last moment and fire anoccasional shot at the shed to let them know that we are still here."
As the course Mr. Atherton advised was evidently the best, the othersfollowed his instructions without discussion, and three minutes laterstepped out from the back window into the garden. Mr. Atherton had beentold that they were ready, and after firing a last shot from the windowand reloading his rifle joined them. Mrs. Sampson had a small basket onone arm, and her child, who was ten years old, grasping her hand. Mrs.Renshaw had taken charge of Wilfrid's rifle, and had offered him herarm, but the excitement had given him his strength for the moment, andhe declared himself perfectly capable of walking without assistance.
"Go on as quietly as you can," Mr. Atherton said. "I will keep a bitbehind first. They may possibly have put somebody on the watch on thisside of the house, although I do not expect they have. They have beentaken too much by surprise themselves."
The little party went on quietly and noiselessly about three hundredyards, and then Mr. Atherton joined them. Wilfrid was breathing heavilyand leaning against a tree.
"Now jump up upon my back, Wilfrid," Mr. Atherton said; "your weightwill not make much difference to me one way or the other. That is right;lend him a hand, Sampson, and get him on to my shoulders. It will beeasier for both of us, for I have got no hips for his knees to catchhold of. That is right. Now if you will take my gun we shall get alongmerrily."
They walked fast for about two miles. Wilfrid several times offered toget down, saying that he could walk again for a bit, but Mr. Athertonwould not hear of it. At the end of two miles they reached the spotwhere the country was covered with low scrub.
"We are pretty safe now," Mr. Atherton said, "we can turn off from thetrack and take to the scrub for shelter, and there will be little chanceof their finding us. Now, Wilfrid, I will set you down for a bit. Thisis fine exercise for me, and if I were to carry you a few miles everyday I should fine down wonderfully. Ah! the others have come up;" hebroke off as the sound of a native yell sounded on the still night air,and looking round they saw a bright light rising in the direction fromwhich they had come.
"They have set fire to the house," the settler said; "there goes theresult of six years' work. However, I need not grumble over that, nowthat we have saved our lives."
"We had best be moving on," Mr. Atherton said. "No doubt they opened aheavy fire before they set fire to the shingles with their brands, butthe fact that we did not return their fire must have roused theirsuspicions, and by this time they must have woke up to the fact that wehave escaped. They will hunt about for a bit, no doubt, round the house,and may send a few men some distance along the tracks, but they willknow there is very little chance of catching us until daylight. Now,Sampson, let us join arms, your right and my left. Wilfrid can sit onthem and put his arms round our necks. We carry our rifles on our othershoulders, and that will balance matters. That is right. Now on we goagain." With occasion
al halts they went on for another four hours. Bythis time the ladies and the little girl were completely exhausted fromstumbling over roots and low shrubs in the darkness and the two men alsowere thoroughly fatigued; for the night was extremely hot, and the workof carrying Wilfrid in addition to the weight of their ammunition, toldupon them. They had long since lost the path, but knew by the stars thatthey were keeping in the right direction.
"Now we will have a few hours' halt," Mr. Atherton said. "We mayconsider ourselves as perfectly safe from pursuit, though we shall haveto be cautious, for there may be parties of these scoundrels wanderingabout the country. We may hope that a good many of the settlers heardthe firing and made off in time, but I fear we shall hear some sadstories of this night's work."
Lying down the whole party were in a few minutes fast asleep. Wilfridhad offered to keep watch, saying that he had done no walking and couldvery well keep awake, but Mr. Atherton said that nothing would be gainedby it. "You could see nothing, and you would hear nothing until a partyof natives were quite close, and unless they happened by sheer accidentto stumble upon us they could not find us; besides, though you have doneno absolute walking, the exertion of sitting up and holding on has beenquite as much for you in your weak state as carrying you has been forus. No, we had best all take a rest so as to start fresh in themorning."
Mr. Atherton woke as soon as daylight broke, and rousing himself,cautiously looked round. There was nothing in sight, and he decided tolet the party sleep for a few hours longer. It was eight o'clock and thesun was high before the others opened their eyes.
Mr. Atherton was standing up. "There is a horseman coming across theplain," he said; "no doubt he is following the track; by the line he istaking he will pass a little to our right. I will go out to hear thenews. I think you had better remain where you are, he may be followed."
Mr. Atherton walked through the bush until he reached the track just asthe rider came along.
"Ah! you have escaped, Mr. Atherton; I am glad of that. Have all yourparty got away?"
"Yes, thank God!" Mr. Atherton said; "and now what is the news?"
"I cannot tell all," the settler said, "but there has been a terriblemassacre. I was pressing wool for Dodd and Peppard, whose station, youknow, lies some distance from any other. I rode up there just as day wasbreaking and went to the wool shed. Nobody came, and I heard the dogbarking angrily; so I went up to the house to see what was the matter. Ifound the back-door open and the two men lying dead inside, evidentlykilled by natives. I then galloped off to the Mission Station and warnedthem there, and then to the stations of Hawthorne and Strong. I foundthey had already been warned, and were just about to start; then I rodeto Matawhero to warn the settlers there. Most of them had already madeoff. I passed Bigg's house on the way; there were a number of nativesround it evidently in possession, and as I passed Mann's house I sawhim and his wife and child lying outside dead. How many more have beenmurdered I do not know. It is an awful business. Where are yourfriends?"
"They are in the scrub there. We are making our way to the Mahia."
"Most of the settlers who have escaped have made for the old redoubt atTaranganui, and I fancy they will be able to beat off any attack made onthem. I am riding for Wairoa. I cannot think what they can have beenabout there to let Te Kooti slip away without sending us a warning. Hemust have come by the long road and been six or seven days on themarch."
"Have you seen any natives since you started?" Mr. Atherton asked.
"I saw a party of about twenty of them moving across the country abouttwo miles back. They were scattered about in the bush, and were, Iexpect, in search of fugitives. They were moving across the line I wasgoing, and were half a mile away; but when they come on this path theymay follow it, knowing that those who made their escape and did not goto the redoubt would be likely to try to reach the Mahia country."
"Thank you! then we will be moving on without delay," Mr. Atherton said;and the settler at once rode on with his message to the force at Wairoa.As soon as Mr. Atherton joined the party and told them what he had heardthey again set out. After walking for four miles they reached the edgeof the plain, and the path here ascended a sharp rise and entered anarrow defile.
Wilfrid, who was sitting on Mr. Atherton's shoulders, looked back forthe twentieth time as they ascended the rise. "They are following us!"he exclaimed. "There are a party of fifteen or twenty coming along thepath at a run. They are not more than a mile behind at the outside."
"Then I will put you down, Wilfrid," Mr. Atherton said quietly; "thatwill give me time to cool down a bit before they arrive. They could nothave come up at a better place for us. It is no use our trying to hide,they would track us directly. We must make a stand at the mouth of thisdefile. It is a good place for defence, and if it were not for thisrascally bush we should have no difficulty in keeping them off. Even asit is I think we can make a good fight of it. Now, Mrs. Renshaw, willyou and Mrs. Sampson and the child go a little way in and sit down. Ihave no doubt we shall be able to beat these fellows back, and if we dothat we can hope to make the rest of our journey without furthermolestation."
"Could I be of any use in loading the rifles, Mr. Atherton?"
"I think not, Mrs. Renshaw; it may be a long skirmish, and we shall haveplenty of time to load; and your being here with us and running the riskof being hit would make us nervous. I think, if you do not mind, wewould much rather know that you are in safety behind us."
"Very well," Mrs. Renshaw said quietly; "I will do what you think best.We shall be praying for your success until it is over."
Mr. Atherton looked round after the two ladies had gone on. "There is abush with a wide ledge of flat ground behind it," he said, pointing to alittle clump of underwood some ten feet above them on the side of theravine. "I think, with my help, you can manage to clamber up there,Wilfrid. Lying down you will be able to fire under the bush and be infair shelter. Mr. Sampson and I will hold the path here. If they make arush you will be able to help us with your revolver. Up there you willhave the advantage of being able to see movements among the bushesbetter than we shall, and can fire down at them; and if it comes to ahand-to-hand fight will be of more use there than down here."
Wilfrid at once assented. "Stand on my hand and I will hoist you up."Mr. Atherton raised Wilfrid until he was able to get on to the ledge ofrock behind the bushes. Wilfrid laid himself down there, and with hisknife cut off a few of the lower twigs so that he was able to get a goodview ahead. "Keep yourself well back, lad, and do not raise your headexcept to fire. Do you see anything of them?"
"Yes, they are not more than a quarter of a mile away and are scatteringamong the bushes. No doubt they caught sight of us as we came up here,and think it possible we may intend to defend the defile."
"I will let them know we are here;" and Mr. Atherton made two stepsforward to the mouth of the defile. Almost at the same instant helevelled his rifle and fired, and one of the Maoris threw up his armsand fell back, the rest throwing themselves down instantaneously amongthe bushes, whence a moment later two or three shots were fired. But Mr.Atherton had stepped back, and he and the settler, lying down on theground, worked themselves forward until by raising their heads theycould command a view of the slope up to the mouth of the ravine.
For a time all was silent. Presently Wilfrid's rifle spoke out, and ayell testified to the fact that the quick aim he had taken at a darkfigure stealing among the bushes had been true. It was followed quicklyby a general discharge of their pieces by the natives. The bulletsrattled thickly against the rock, and cut leaves from the bushes behindwhich Wilfrid was lying, but he had drawn himself back a foot or two themoment he fired, and the balls passed harmlessly over him. Not so themissive despatched by Mr. Atherton in the direction of a puff of smokefrom a bush some forty yards away, for the figure behind it remainedstill and immovable while the fray went on. For upwards of an hour theexchange of shots continued, and then the assailants were joined byfifteen other natives, who had been attracted
to the spot by the soundof firing.
"I expect they will pluck up their courage to make a rush now, Wilfrid,"Mr. Atherton said. "If it had not been for these new arrivals I thinkthey would have soon drawn off, for we must have diminished theirnumbers very considerably. Don't fire again for a bit; we had best keepour rifles loaded so as to be ready for them when they pluck up courageto charge. When they do, be sure you keep your revolver as a reserve forthe critical moment."
Five minutes later a tremendous yell rose in the air. The natives leapedto their feet from behind the bushes, fired their guns at their hiddenfoes, and then, tomahawk in hand, rushed forward.
Three shots rang out almost simultaneously from the mouth of the defileand three of the natives dropped dead in their tracks. The rest rushedforward in a body. Mr. Atherton and the settler leapt to their feet, andthe former opened fire with his Colt's revolver when the leading nativeswere within ten yards of him. His aim was as accurate as when directedagainst a mark stuck against a tree, and a man fell at each shot. Butthe natives' blood was thoroughly up now, and in spite of the slaughterthey rushed forward. There was no room in the narrow defile for two mento swing their rifles, and Mr. Atherton and the settler stepped forwardto meet the foe with their clubbed rifles in their hands. Two crashingblows were delivered with effect, but before the settler could againraise his weapon three Maoris were upon him. One tomahawk struck him inthe shoulder and the rifle fell from his hands. Another raised histomahawk to brain him, but fell with a bullet from Wilfrid's revolverthrough his chest; but the third native brought his weapon down withterrible force upon the settler's head, and he fell in a heap upon theground. The tremendous strength of Mr. Atherton stood him in good steadnow. The first blow he had dealt had smashed the stock of his rifle, buthe whirled the iron barrel like a light twig round his head, dealingblows that broke down the defence of the natives as if their tomahawkshad been straw, and beating them down as a flail would level a wheatstalk. Those in front of him recoiled from a strength which seemed tothem superhuman, while whenever one tried to attack him in the rearWilfrid's revolver came into play with fatal accuracy. At last, with acry of terror, the surviving natives turned and retreated at the top oftheir speed.
"Hot work, Wilfrid," Mr. Atherton said as he lowered his terrible weaponand wiped the streaming perspiration from his face; "but we have giventhe rascals such a lesson that we can journey on at our leisure. This isa bad business of poor Sampson's. I will help you down first and then wewill see to him. Recharge your revolver, lad," he went on as Wilfridstood beside him; "some of these fellows may not be dead, and may playus an ugly trick if we are not on the look-out."
Wilfrid reloaded his pistol, and Mr. Atherton then stooped over thefallen man.
"He is desperately hurt," he said, "but he breathes. Hand me thatrevolver, Wilfrid, and run back and tell Mrs. Sampson her husband ishurt."
Wilfrid had gone but a yard or two when he met his mother and thesettler's wife, who, hearing the cessation of the firing, were no longerable to restrain their anxiety as to what was going forward. Mrs.Renshaw gave a cry of joy at seeing Wilfrid walking towards her.
"Is it all over, my boy, and are you unhurt?"
"It is all over, mother, and they have bolted. I have not had a scratch,for I have been lying down all the time in shelter; but I am sorry tosay, Mrs. Sampson, that your husband is badly hurt.
"No; he is not dead," he continued in answer to the agonized expressionof inquiry in her eyes. "He has been stunned by the blow of a tomahawk,and is, as I said, badly hurt; but he will, I trust, get over it."
Mrs. Sampson ran forward and threw herself on her knees by her husband'sside, uttering a suppressed cry as she saw the terrible wound on hishead.
"Wilfrid, there is a bottle of water untouched in the basket," Mr.Atherton said.
"I will fetch it," Mrs. Renshaw broke in, hurrying away. "No, Milly,"she said, as the child who had been ordered to stay with the basket camerunning to meet her. "You must stay here for a little while. The nativeshave all run away, but your father is hurt and for a time must be keptquite quiet. I will send Wilfrid to sit with you."
Taking a bottle of water and a cloth which covered the basket, Mrs.Renshaw hurried back. "Wilfrid," she said, "do you go and sit with thelittle one. You can do no good here, and look completely worn out. Youwill be making yourself useful if you amuse Milly and keep her away fromhere for the present."
Mr. Atherton poured a little of the water into the cover of his flask,added some brandy, and poured a little of it between the wounded man'slips. Then he saturated the cloth with water and handed it to Mrs.Sampson, who wiped the blood from her husband's head and face, thenpoured a little water from the bottle on to his forehead. Some morebrandy and water was poured between his lips and he uttered a faintgroan.
"I will examine his wound now, Mrs. Sampson. I have had some experiencethat way in my journeyings about the world." Kneeling down hecarefully examined the wound.
MR. ATHERTON KEEPS THE MOUTH OF THE DEFILE
_Page 294_]
"It is better than I hoped, Mrs. Sampson," he said cheerfully. "I expectthe thick hat turned the tomahawk a little and it fell obliquely on theside of the head. It has carried away a goodish slice of the hair andscalp, and has starred the bone, but it has not crushed it in, and Ithink that with care and nursing your husband will not be long before hegets over it. You had better fold up that cloth again, pour some freshwater over it, and then bandage it over the wound with a slip of stufftorn off from the bottom of your petticoat. You had better tear off twoslips, for his arm will require bandaging too. I will look to that assoon as you have done his head. No," he went on, when he saw that Mrs.Sampson's trembling fingers were quite incapable of fixing the bandageproperly, "I do not think that will do. If you will allow me I will doit for you."
He took Mrs. Sampson's place, and while Mrs. Renshaw supported thesettler's head he wound the bandage tightly and skilfully round it. "Nowfor his arm," he said, and drawing out his knife cut the sleeve up theshoulder. "It has narrowly missed the artery," he went on; "but thoughit is an ugly-looking gash it is not serious. I wish we had some morewater, but as we haven't we must do without it, and I daresay we shallcome across a stream soon." When the operation of bandaging was completeMr. Atherton stood up.
"What are we to do next?" Mrs. Renshaw asked him.
"We must cut a couple of saplings and make a litter," he said. "If oneof you ladies can spare a petticoat, please take it off while I cut thepoles." He went away and returned in a few minutes with two poles ten oreleven feet long.
"Here is the petticoat," Mrs. Renshaw said. The settler's wife was tooabsorbed by her grief and anxiety to hear Mr. Atherton's request. "Whatis to be done with it?"
"In the first place it must be taken out of that band, or whatever youcall it," Mr. Atherton replied, "and then split right down. Here is myknife."
When the garment had been operated upon there remained a length ofstrong calico nearly three feet wide and three yards long. "That will dowell," he said. "Now we have to fasten this to the poles. How would youdo that? It is more in your way than mine."
"I should roll it twice round the pole and then sew it, if I had aneedle and thread. If I had not that I should make holes in every sixinches and tie it with string; but unfortunately we have no stringeither."
"I think we can manage that," Mr. Atherton said; and he walked rapidlyaway and returned in a few minutes with some long stalks that lookedlike coarse grass.
"This is the very thing, Mrs. Renshaw," he said; "this is what is calledNew Zealand flax, and I have no doubt it will be strong enough for ourpurpose." In a quarter of an hour the litter was completed. Just as itwas finished Mrs. Sampson uttered an exclamation of joy, and turninground, they saw that her husband had opened his eyes and was lookinground in a dazed, bewildered way.
"It is all right, Sampson," Mr. Atherton said cheerfully; "we havethrashed the natives handsomely; they have bolted, and there is no fearof their coming back
again. You have had a clip on the head with atomahawk, but I do not think that you will be much the worse for it atthe end of a week or two. We have just been manufacturing a litter foryou, and now we will lift you on to it. Now, ladies, I will take him bythe shoulders; will you take him by the feet, Mrs. Renshaw; and do you,Mrs. Sampson, support his head? That is the way. Now, I will just rollup my coat and put it under his head, and then I think he will do; layour rifles beside him. Now, I will take the two handles at his head; doyou each take one at his feet. The weight will not be great, and you canchange about when your arms get tired. Yes, I see what you are thinkingabout, Mrs. Renshaw. We must go along bit by bit. We will carry ourpatient here for half a mile, then I will come back and fetch Wilfrid upto that point, then we will go on again, and so on."
"All the hard work falls on you, Mr. Atherton; it is too bad," Mrs.Renshaw said with grateful tears in her eyes.
"It will do me a world of good, Mrs. Renshaw. I must have lost over astone weight since yesterday. If this sort of thing were to go on for afew weeks I should get into fighting condition. Now, are you both ready?Lift."
In a short time they came to the point where Wilfrid and the child weresitting down together. Wilfrid had been impressing upon her that herfather was hurt, and that she must be very good and quiet, and walkalong quietly by her mother's side. So when they came along she got upand approached them with a subdued and awe-struck air. She took the handher mother held out to her.
"Is father very bad, mother?" she asked in a low tone.
"He is better than he was, dear, and we must hope and pray that he willsoon be well again; but at present you must not speak to him. He must bekept very quiet and not allowed to talk."
"You sit where you are, Wilfrid, I will come back for you in half anhour," Mr. Atherton said.
"That you won't Mr. Atherton," Wilfrid said, getting up. "I have had along rest, for, except for pulling my trigger and loading, I have donenothing since the first short walk when we started this morning. Allthis excitement has done me a lot of good, and I feel as if I could walkever so far."
"Well, put your rifle in the litter, then," Mr. Atherton said; "itsweight will make no difference to us, and it will make a lot ofdifference to you; when you are tired say so."
Wilfrid struggled on resolutely, refusing to stop until they reached astream two miles from the starting-place. Here they rested for an hour.The settler's wounds were washed and rebandaged, the others partook of ameal of bread and water, and they then continued the journey. At the endof another half-mile Wilfrid was obliged to own that his strength couldhold out no longer, but he refused positively to accept Mr. Atherton'sproposal to come back for him.
"I will not hear of it, Mr. Atherton," he said. "From what Mrs. Sampsonsays it is another eight or ten miles to the Mahia country. There is notthe least fear of any of the Hau-Haus following on our track. The bestway by far is this: I will go a hundred yards into the bush and liedown. You push on. It will be dark before you finish your journey as itis, you would not get there till to-morrow morning if you had to keep oncoming back for me; besides, you would never get on with the litterafter it is dark. Leave me a piece of bread, a bottle of water, my rifleand revolver, and I shall be as comfortable among the bushes there as ifI were in bed. In the morning you can send out a party of Mahias tofetch me in. If you break down a small bough here by the side of theway, that will be quite sufficient to tell the natives where they are toturn off from the path to look for me."
"Well, I really think that is the best plan, Wilfrid. There is, as yousay, no real danger in your stopping here alone. It would be a long jobcoming back for you every time we halt, and it is of importance to getMr. Sampson laid down and quiet as soon as possible."
Mrs. Renshaw did not like leaving Wilfrid alone; but she saw that shecould be of no real assistance to him, and her aid was absolutelyrequired to carry the wounded man. She therefore offered no objectionsto the proposal.
"Don't look downcast, mother," Wilfrid said as he kissed her. "Theweather is fine, and there is no hardship whatever in a night in thebush, especially after what we went through when we were following TeKooti."
Wilfrid made his way a hundred yards back into the bush and then threwhimself down under a tree-fern, and in a very few minutes he was soundasleep. The next time he awoke all was dark around him.
"I must have slept a good many hours," he said. "I feel precioushungry." He ate a hunch of bread, took a drink of water from the bottle,and soon fell asleep again. The morning was breaking when he again woke.A quarter of an hour later he heard voices, and cocking his rifle andlying down full length on the grass, waited. In another minute to hisjoy he heard Mr. Atherton's voice shouting, "Where are you, Wilfrid?Where have you hidden yourself?"