by G. A. Henty
CHAPTER XVI.
THE PURSUIT OF TE KOOTI.
He leapt to his feet and ran forward. Mr. Atherton was approaching,accompanied by a party of six natives.
"Why, Mr. Atherton, I was not expecting you for another three hours."
"Well, you see, Wilfrid, your mother was anxious about you. She did notsay anything, for she is a plucky woman, and not given to complaining orgrumbling, still I could see she was anxious, so I arranged with thesenatives to be ready to start three hours before daybreak, so as to gethere just as the sun was rising."
"It is awfully kind of you, Atherton; but surely the natives would havebeen able to find me without your troubling yourself to come all thisway again. I am sure you must have been dreadfully tired after all yourwork yesterday."
"Well, Wilfrid, perhaps I was just a little bit anxious myself aboutyou, and should have fussed and fidgeted until you got back, so you seethe quickest way to satisfy myself was to come with the natives."
"What time did you get in last night?"
"About eight o'clock in the evening, I think. We were all pretty wellknocked up, but the two ladies bore it bravely, so you see I had noexcuse for grumbling."
"I am sure you would not have grumbled anyhow," Wilfrid laughed; "but Iknow that when one is carrying anyone the weight at the head is morethan double the weight at the feet, and that was divided between them,while you had the heavy end all to yourself. And how is Sampson?"
"I think he will do, Wilfrid. The natives took him in hand as soon as hegot there, and put leaf poultices to his wounds. They are very good atthat sort of thing; and so they ought to be, considering they have beenbreaking each other's heads almost from the days of Adam. Well, let usbe off. We have brought the stretcher with us, and shall get you back inno time."
Wilfrid lay down upon the stretcher. Four of the natives lifted it andwent off at a light swinging pace. From time to time changes were made,the other two natives taking their share. Had they been alone thenatives could have made the ten miles' journey under the two hours, butMr. Atherton reduced their speed directly after they had started.
"I have not been killed by the Hau-Haus, Wilfrid, and I do not mean tolet myself be killed by friendly natives. Three miles an hour is mypace, and except in a case of extreme emergency I never exceed it. Ihave no wish, when I get back to England, to be exhibited as a walkingskeleton.
"It is good to hear you laugh again, lad," he went on as Wilfrid burstinto a shout of laughter, to the astonishment of his four bearers. "Iwas afraid six weeks back that we should never hear you laugh again."
"Oh, Mr. Atherton!" Wilfrid exclaimed a few minutes later, "were thereany other of the Poverty Bay people there last night; and have you heardwhat took place and whether many besides those we know of have losttheir lives?"
"Yes; I am sorry to say it has been a very bad business. As we heardfrom Butters, Dodd and Reppart were killed, and there is no doubt thattheir shepherd was also slaughtered. Major Biggs, poor fellow, has paidfor his obstinacy and over-confidence with his life. His wife, baby, andservant were also killed. The news of this was brought by a boy employedin the house, who escaped by the back-door and hid in a flax bush.Captain Wilson, his wife, and children have all been murdered. M'Cullochwas killed with his wife and baby; the little boy managed to escape, andgot to the redoubt at Taranganui. Cadel was also killed. FortunatelyFirmin heard the sound of musketry in the night. He started at dawn tosee what was the matter. He met a native, who told him that theHau-Haus were massacring the whites, and at once rode off and warnedWylie, Stevenson, Benson, Hawthorne, and Strong; and these all escapedwith their families, and with Major Westrupp got safely to the Mahiapeople.
"The boy who escaped from Major Biggs's house reached Bloomfields, andall the women and children there managed to escape. How they did itheaven only knows, for the Hau-Haus were all round. That is all we knowat present, and we hope that the rest of the settlers of the outlyingstations round Matawhero succeeded in getting into Taranganui. Whetherthe Hau-Haus will be satisfied with the slaughter they have effected, orwill try to penetrate further into the settlement or attack Taranganui,remains to be seen. Of course the people who have escaped are, likeourselves, ignorant of everything that has taken place except whathappened in their immediate neighbourhood. I should fancy, myself, thathowever widespread the massacre may have been, the Hau-Haus started lastnight on their way back. They would know that as soon as the newsreached Wairoa the force there will be on the move to cut them off."
"Do you think they will succeed?" Wilfrid asked eagerly.
"I do not think so, Wilfrid. If Colonel Whitmore were there they wouldhave routed out Te Kooti long ago, but Colonel Lambert seems a man of adifferent stamp altogether. Why, I heard last night that he marched sixdays ago to Whataroa, quite close to Te Kooti's place, and that aprisoner they took gave them positive information that the Hau-Hausthere had all left to assist Te Kooti in a raid upon Poverty Bay. Itseems they did not believe the news; at anyrate, although a mail leftfor Poverty Bay on the day after they returned to Wairoa, they sent nonews whatever of the report they had heard. If they had done so therewould have been plenty of time for the settlers to prepare for theattack.
"It is one of the most scandalous cases of neglect that I ever heard of,and Lambert ought to be tried by court-martial, though that would notbring all these people to life again. However there is one thingcertain, the news of this affair will create such a sensation throughoutthe island that even the incapable government at Auckland, who havedisregarded all the urgent requests for aid against Te Kooti, will beforced to do something, and I sincerely hope they will despatch Whitmorewith a strong force of constabulary to wipe out Te Kooti and his band.It is curious how things come about. Almost all these poor fellows whohave been killed belonged to the Poverty Bay militia, who refused topress on with Whitmore in pursuit of Te Kooti. Had they done so, theaddition of thirty white men to his force might have made all thedifference in that fight you had with him, and in that case Te Kootiwould have been driven far up the country, and this massacre would neverhave taken place."
It was a great relief to Mrs. Renshaw when Wilfrid reached the village.She was not given to idle fears, and felt convinced that he was runningno real danger; for she knew Mr. Atherton would not have left him byhimself had he not been perfectly convinced there was no danger ofpursuit. Still she felt a weight lifted off her mind when she saw theparty entering the village.
"Well, mother, you must have had a terrible journey of it yesterday,"Wilfrid said, after he had assured her that he felt none the worse forwhat had passed, and was indeed stronger and better than he had been twodays before.
"It was a terrible journey, Wilfrid. Fourteen miles does not seem such avery long distance to walk, though I do not suppose I ever walked as farsince I was a girl; but the weight of the stretcher made all thedifference. It did not feel much when we started, but it soon gotheavier as we went on; and though we changed sides every few minutes itseemed at last as if one's arms were being pulled out of their sockets.We could never have done it if it had not been for Mr. Atherton. He keptus cheery the whole time. It seems ridiculous to remember that he hasalways been representing himself as unequal to any exertion. He wascarrying the greater part of the weight, and indeed five miles before wegot to the end of our journey, seeing how exhausted we were becoming, hetied two sticks six feet long to our end of the poles, and in that waymade the work a great deal lighter for us, and of course a great dealheavier for himself. He declared he hardly felt it, for by that time Ihad torn two wide strips from the bottom of my dress, tied themtogether, and put them over his shoulders and fastened them to the twopoles; so that he got the weight on his shoulders instead of his hands.But in addition to Mr. Sampson's weight he carried Milly perched on hisshoulder the last eight miles. He is a noble fellow."
"He did not say anything about carrying Milly," Wilfrid said, "or oftaking all the weight of the litter. He is a splendid fellow, mother."
"He was
terribly exhausted when he got in," Mrs. Renshaw said; "and waslooking almost as pale as death when we went into the light in the hutwhere the other fugitives had assembled. As soon as the others relievedhim of the weight of the litter, and lifted Milly down from hisshoulder, he went out of the hut. As soon as I had seen Mr. Sampson wellcared for, I went out to look for him, and found he had thrown himselfdown on the ground outside, and was lying there, I thought at firstinsensible, but he wasn't. I stooped over him and he said, 'I am allright, Mrs. Renshaw, but I was not up to answering questions. In half anhour I shall be myself again, but I own that I feel washed out atpresent.' I took him out a glass of brandy and water, he drank it andsaid, 'I feel ashamed at being waited on by you, Mrs. Renshaw, when youmust be as tired as I am. Please do not bother any more about me, but ifyou will ask one of the others to get a native blanket to throw over meto keep off the dew I shall be all right in the morning; but I do notfeel as if I could get on my feet again to-night if a fortune dependedon it.' Of course I did as he asked me, and I was perfectly stupefiedthis morning when I heard that he had been up at two o'clock and hadgone off with a party of natives to bring you in."
"It was awfully good of him," Wilfrid said, "and he never said a word tome about it. Where is he?" and he looked round. But Mr. Atherton haddisappeared.
"Have you seen Mr. Atherton?" they asked Mr. Wylie, as he came out of alarge hut that had been given up for the use of the fugitives.
"He has just had a glass of spirits and water--unfortunately we had notea to offer him--and a piece of bread, and has taken a blanket and hasgone off to an empty hut; he said he intended to sleep until to-morrowmorning," and indeed it was not until next day that Mr. Atherton againappeared.
Several friendly natives arrived one after another at the village. Theybrought the news that the Hau-Haus had attacked only the colonists roundMatawairo, and that all the rest of the settlers were gathered atTaranganui; but the Hau-Haus were plundering all the deserted houses,and were shooting down all the natives who refused to join them. It wasafterwards found indeed that the natives had suffered even more severelythan the whites, for while thirty-three of the latter were murderedthirty-seven of the natives were killed. Major Westrupp had left by shipfor Napier to obtain assistance, Lieutenant Gascoyne had made his waysafely through the Hau-Haus to Taranganui, and had sent a whale-boat outto a schooner that was seen passing down the coast. She at once cameinto the port, and the women and children were sent off to Napier. Thegarrison of the fort had been reinforced by the friendly natives undertheir chief Henare Potare, and were awaiting the expected attack by TeKooti.
A week later news came that Major Westrupp and Captain Tuke had arrivedfrom Napier with three hundred natives, and that the Hau-Haus hadretired with their plunder. The party at Te Mahia at once started forthe coast accompanied by some thirty men of the Mahia tribe. A waggonhad been procured for the transport of the women and children, and amarch of twenty-four miles took them to Taranganui. They found thatparties had been out the day before to bury the dead, and had brought intwo persons who were supposed to have been murdered. As one of theparties were going along they saw a small poodle dog run into a bush,and recognized it as having belonged to Captain Wilson. They called andwhistled to it in vain, and came to the conclusion that someone must bein hiding there. After half an hour's search they discovered littleJames Wilson with the dog tightly held in his arms; the boy was toofrightened to distinguish friend from foe, and was greatly delightedwhen he recognized one of the party. He told them that his mother wasalive, and was lying wounded in an out-house at their place. He had losthis way while trying to reach Taranganui to bring help to her.
Captain Wilson had defended his house with a revolver until the nativesbrought fire to burn him out. As they offered to spare the lives of allwithin if they surrendered, Captain Wilson, thinking that there was apossibility of their keeping their word, while those within wouldcertainly be burned if they resisted, surrendered. The prisoners werebeing led along by their captors, Captain Wilson carrying the littleboy, when the natives fell upon them. Captain Wilson was shot throughthe back, his servant, Morau, tomahawked, and Mrs. Wilson and the otherchildren bayoneted. Captain Wilson, when shot, fell into a bush, and thelittle boy in the confusion crawled away unnoticed into the scrub. Hehad wandered about sleeping in out-houses for several nights, oftenclose to the enemy, and at last found his way back to what had been hishome, and found the bodies of his father, brothers, and sisters, and ongoing into an out-house for shelter found his mother alive there.
She had been bayoneted in several places and beaten on the head with thebutt of a rifle until they thought her dead. Later in the day she hadrecovered consciousness and crawled back to the house, where she gotsome water and then took refuge in the out-house, where two or threedays later she was found by her son. She had since been kept alive byeggs and other things the child found by foraging round; but he had atlast started to try to get assistance for her.
After hearing the child's story the party had galloped on to CaptainWilson's, and the poor lady had been found and carried to Taranganui. Afew days later she was sent down to Napier by ship, but expired shortlyafter from the effects of her wounds.
In the week that elapsed between the date of the massacre and theirreturn to the settlement Wilfrid had regained his strength wonderfully,and the bracing air of the hills and the excitement of the eventsthrough which he passed had acted as a complete restorative. Mr.Atherton too had completely recovered from his fatigue, and, indeed,professed himself to have benefited greatly by them, as he maintainedthat in three days he had lost as many stone of flesh. The morning aftertheir return to Taranganui they had a long talk about their plans. Itwas settled that Mrs. Renshaw should at once return home. She was mostanxious that Wilfrid should accompany her; but this he would not consentto.
"No, mother," he said; "it is my duty, and everyone's duty, to aid inhunting down these murderous scoundrels. They have massacred a numberof people who were very kind to me when I first became ill, and I willdo my best to punish them; besides, until Te Kooti's band is destroyedthere will be no peace or safety for any of the outlying settlements,and they are just as likely to make an attack on our settlement as anyother; indeed, we are the nearest to them, therefore in fighting here Iam fighting for the protection of our home."
Mr. Atherton also announced his intention of accompanying the column inpursuit of Te Kooti.
"I dislike fatigue amazingly," he said; "but for several reasons I feelmyself bound to see this affair through to the end. In the first placethey have attacked me and caused me to undergo great fatigue; in thesecond, they have murdered a number of my acquaintances; in the thirdplace I have to look after this boy and see that he gets into nomischief; and, lastly, it really seems to me that a month or two of thissort of thing will absolutely reduce me to ordinary dimensions, a thingwhich I have for years given up even hoping for."
"Well, Wilfrid," Mrs. Renshaw said at last, "I suppose you must haveyour way. I do think that, as you say, it is the duty of everyone to doall that he can to punish the people who have committed these massacresupon defenceless people, and it is necessary for the safety of thesettlement that Te Kooti's band shall be destroyed. It is very hard onus to know that our only son is fighting; but other men as well have toleave perhaps wives and children behind, and if only those without tieswere to go the force would be a small one indeed. It is a comfort to me,Mr. Atherton, that you have made up your mind to go too. It soundsselfish of me to say so; but I suppose all mothers are selfish whentheir sons are concerned."
"I understand your feeling, Mrs. Renshaw, and it is quite natural. I dothink that everyone who can carry a musket ought to join in thisexpedition, and I flatter myself that Wilfrid's rifle and mine areallies not to be despised. Anyhow, Mrs. Renshaw, I promise you that wewill not do what are called rash things. We won't try to capture TeKooti single-handed, and I think that we can be much more usefulcovering an attack than leading an assault."
; Accordingly, two days later Mrs. Renshaw embarked on a coaster for theMohaka River, and Mr. Atherton and Wilfrid announced to LieutenantGascoyne that they would accompany his force as volunteers.
"I am heartily glad to hear it," that officer replied. "I have heardfrom Wylie of your defence of that pass against the Hau-Haus, andyesterday I had a talk with Sampson, who is getting round now, and hegave me the history of the affair, and from what he says you and Renshawmust have killed at least twenty Hau-Haus, for Sampson admits that he isnot much of a shot and had a very small share in the total."
"Yes; we can both shoot indifferently well," Mr. Atherton saidcarelessly, "and can both be trusted to hit a Maori if we see him withinabout four hundred yards of us. I fancy that we may be of service to youin keeping down the fire of the enemy if you are attacking a pah. Thereis nothing cows fellows so much as finding that it is certain death toraise their heads from behind shelter to take aim. Of course we shall beready generally to obey orders, but that is the special work we joinfor. You see, Renshaw is but just recovering from illness, and my buildunsuits me for violent exertion. So if you want to storm a steep hillyou must not count on us being with you except so far as shooting goes."
"Well, I will take you on your own terms," Lieutenant Gascoyne saidsmiling. "Mrs. Sampson told me yesterday how disinclined you were forviolent exertion, and how she had to help you along on that journey toTe Mahia."
Mr. Atherton laughed. "There are exceptions to all rules," he said. "Iam a peaceful botanist, but I had to fight. I hate exertion, but on thatoccasion I was forced to make an effort, and terribly knocked up I wasover it. If it becomes absolutely necessary I may have to make an effortagain, but I consider it altogether outside my province."
The expedition started on the following morning, the 20th of November.It consisted of nearly six hundred natives belonging to the Napiertribes, the Mahia and Marsuwai tribes. The next day they came upon therear-guard of the Hau-Hau tribes of Patutahi and shot two of them. Greatquantities of booty which the Hau-Haus were unable to carry away werefound there, together with the bodies of several friendly natives. Thenext day another encampment was come upon, and here the carts taken fromthe plundered farms were found. At dusk on the 23d the column came upwith the main body of the enemy, who were encamped on the Te KaretuaCreek.
A heavy fire was opened on both sides, and the natives then charged, butwere driven back with a loss of five killed and twelve wounded. Mr.Atherton and Wilfrid, who were walking leisurely in the rear of thecolumn when it came on the enemy, arrived too late to take any part inthe fight. After the repulse the friendly natives took up a position ona ridge overlooking the Hau-Hau positions, and distant twelve hundredyards from it. Rifle-pits were dug, and for the next week firing waskept up by both sides, with occasional skirmishes as one party or theother tried to take the offensive, but neither cared to try a determinedattack on the other.
The Hau-Haus had lost twenty men during the first day's fighting andsuffered more in the distant firing, especially whenever they gatheredas if for an attack, than did the friendlies. This was owing in no smalldegree to the accuracy of Mr. Atherton's fire. He had got some of thenatives to dig a rifle-pit three or four hundred yards down the hill infront of their position, and here he and Wilfrid ensconced themselvesevery morning before daybreak, taking down with them their provisionsfor the day, and from this point they galled the Hau-Haus greatly withtheir fire. Wilfrid knew that his shooting could not be depended upon atthis distance; but Mr. Atherton had been accustomed to fire at longranges, and although at eight hundred yards his rifle was not accuratehe did considerable execution, and so alarmed the Hau-Haus that theyscarcely dared to move by daylight from one part of their intrenchmentto the other. The friends always left their shelter and retired to campas soon as the sun set.
The Hau-Haus were not, however, idle. A party of sixty men made a longcircuit and came down in rear of the column, captured the depot atPatutahi with eight kegs of ammunition and a great quantity ofprovisions, and also seized a number of pack animals on the way up. Onthe 3d of December the force was strengthened by the arrival of thechiefs Rapata and Hotene, with three hundred and seventy men from TeWairoa. These chiefly belonged to the Ngatiporou tribe, who were farbetter fighters than the Napier or Mahia men.
As soon as the reinforcements had arrived it was decided at once todislodge the enemy from a hill of which they had possession, and then tomake a general attack on the intrenchments. Forty men of the Wairoatribe under Mr. Preece made a dashing attack on the hill, and just asthey carried it Rapata sent a message to him to say that his tribesmenwere annoyed by the enemy's shot falling into their camp, and weretherefore determined to attack at once. That tribe sallying out, carriedtwo of the enemy's outworks with a rush, and drove the Hau-Haus back totheir last line of rifle-pits near the river. Here they were attacked bythe Wairoa men on the left, Rapata in the centre, and the tribesmen fromNapier on the right. The assailants carried the intrenchment and drovethe Hau-Haus across the river, these suffering heavy loss from thefiring of the left column, who from their position commanded the courseof the stream.
Unfortunately this fire, though destructive to the enemy, was to acertain extent in their favour, for it prevented the close pursuit ofRapata's men. Thirty-four Hau-Haus, including three of their fightingchiefs, were found dead. Te Kooti himself had a narrow escape. He wasstill suffering from his wound in the ankle, and was carried up the bedof the creek on a woman's back. A great quantity of the loot taken fromthe settlers was recaptured, and many of the friendly natives heldprisoners by the Hau-Haus escaped during the fight. Mr. Atherton andWilfrid had joined Rapata's men in their charge, and after the fightwas over the former said: "Well, Wilfrid, it is a satisfaction to havegot some natives with us at last who will fight. It seemed at first asif all the plucky natives had joined the enemy; but Rapata's men arefirst-rate fellows, though I wish that they had rather an easier name,for Ngatiporou is a crack-jaw word to pronounce."
Unfortunately a quarrel arose after the battle between Rapata's men andthe Napier tribesmen, and three hundred of the latter went off. The nextmorning Rapata and his tribe, with the remaining Wairoa men, marched outto attack the position the enemy occupied on the top of a hill two milesaway. Mr. Preece led the advanced party, and found the defencesconsisted of two lines of strong earthworks extending across a flatshoulder, either end resting on a cliff. Mr. Preece halted his men untilRapata came up with the main body. Wilfrid and Mr. Atherton had attachedthemselves to the Ngatiporou. Just as they joined Mr. Preece one of themen fired off a gun, and the enemy answered with a heavy volley.Instantly a panic set in, and the whole force, with the exception ofsome sixteen or eighteen men, bolted. One of the chiefs under Mr. Preecefollowed and managed to stop them, and persuaded them to wait untilRapata could return to them. This they agreed to do, but refusedpositively to return to the attack.
Mr. Preece returned to Rapata, who was in a state of fury at thedefection of his tribe. "We will go on and attack the place byourselves," he said. "Perhaps the cowards will come up when they hear weare fighting." Mr. Preece at once agreed, and the party, consisting ofthe two leaders, Mr. Atherton and Wilfrid, and fourteen of Rapata'smen, worked back through the low scrub until between twenty-five yardsof the first line of earthworks, when they opened fire upon the enemy.
"This is rather close work, Wilfrid," Mr. Atherton said. "We have thebest of it in some respects, because they cannot make out our positionamong the bushes, and they are obliged to stand up and show their headsabove the parapet when they fire. We ought never to miss them at thisdistance, and we will soon teach them that it is fatal to pause a momentto take aim, so at the worst they will only blaze away at random."
For some time the fight continued, and then Rapata requested Mr. Preeceto go down the hill and bring up some more men. Only nine men wouldfollow Mr. Preece, and Rapata was so disgusted that he himself went downfor some distance and managed to get thirty more. One of the men hadbrought a bill up with him, and wi
th this shallow rifle-pits were dugamong the bushes, affording a shelter to the men as they lay flat whileloading. At three o'clock in the afternoon the chief called on histribesmen to follow him, and, leaping up, they dashed at one of theoutposts and carried it. A man took the news down the hill, and a chiefand thirty more men came up and joined in the fight.
At dusk Rapata requested Mr. Preece to return to camp and try to get themain body back with ammunition, as their own was almost exhausted. Mr.Preece could not induce the natives to start, but they said they wouldgo in the morning. All night the fight went on, but before dawn Rapata,having expended his last round of ammunition, retired, having lost sixmen killed and four wounded. As he and his men came down they strodethrough the camp in single file, not deigning to take the slightestnotice of the fugitives, and passing on, camped apart half a milefurther on. The main body, ashamed of their cowardly conduct, wereafraid to go near the chief. As it was necessary to ascertain what hemeant to do, one of the white officers went to see him.
For some time the chief would make no reply. At last he said, "My menhave betrayed me, and I will have nothing further to do with them. Iintend to return home and get other men, and when I get back I willattack the Napier tribe who deserted me." The same day he marched forthe coast, followed at a distance by the abashed fugitives. On the waydown they met Colonel Whitmore, who with three hundred constabulary hadjust arrived by ship from the scene of operations on the other side ofthe island.
The colonel begged Rapata to return with him, but the chief said, "Inever break my word. I have said I will go home, and I will; but I willreturn with other men and attack the Napier tribes." After muchpersuasion Colonel Whitmore got him to promise that he would notinterfere with the Napier men; but nothing could persuade him to fightagain with those men of his own tribe who had deserted him. Such beingthe case, a steamer was placed at his disposal in order that he mightmake the voyage and return as soon as possible.
After Rapata had left Colonel Whitmore sent out a skirmishing party toascertain whether the enemy retained their position. The scouts returnedwith the news that there were great fires on the crest of the hill, andthey believed that the Hau-Haus were burning their huts preparatory toreturning into the interior. Colonel Whitmore believed the report, andconsidering that the Hau-Haus would leave the neighbourhood of thesettlement altogether, he ordered the constabulary to march down to thecoast again as soon as possible and re-embark there, as their presencewas urgently required in the north of the province of Wellington, whichhad been left open to the attack of the enemy there by their withdrawal.
Fortunately before they re-embarked Te Kooti showed his hand. He had noidea of retreating from his position, and the fires were caused by theclearing off of the scrub which had afforded shelter to Rapata's force.No sooner did he hear that Colonel Whitmore had marched away than hesent a party down against one of the outlying settlements, where theymurdered Mr. Ferguson, Mr. Wylie's son, and a friendly native. ColonelWhitmore, on receiving news of the raid, marched rapidly to cut off theretreat of the Hau-Haus; but they managed to evade him and to retire totheir main body.
On the 27th of December Colonel Whitmore's force occupied a high ridge amile distant from Te Kooti's position. Here the colonel received newsthat Rapata had just landed with three hundred and seventy men, andmessenger after messenger was sent down urging him to hurry up. Thechief, who was seriously ill, was much annoyed by these messages,especially by the last, that if he did not come soon Whitmore would takethe place without him. Rapata replied: "Very well, I have tried andfailed; it is his turn now;" and immediately ordered his men to camp forthe day.
The next morning Colonel Whitmore came down himself, having been advisedthat the only way to succeed with Rapata was to treat him in aconciliatory way. The chief's first words were, "Have you taken theplace?"
"No," Colonel Whitmore replied. "I am waiting for you, Rapata."
"Very good," Rapata said; "I will be with you to-morrow morning." TheNgatiporou performed a great war-dance, and as no one stumbled or fell,they considered the omen to be a good one, and marched on and joinedColonel Whitmore's force that night.