CHAPTER XIV.
FRESH TROUBLES.
Three days later a small steamer arrived from Napier, bringing a replyto the urgent request that had been sent for the despatch of a body ofconstabulary for the protection of the settlers. Sir Donald M'Lean, thesuperintendent of the province, sent word that this was impossible atpresent, as the alarming news had just been received that the notoriouschief Te Kooti, who had been captured and imprisoned at Chatham Island,had effected his escape with the whole of the natives confined in theisland, had captured a schooner, and had, it was reported, landed nearPoverty Bay.
"It is probable," Sir Donald wrote, "that it is the news of his landingwhich has excited one of the tribes of the neighbourhood to make anattack upon you. A strong expedition will be fitted out, and we shalldoubtless have to supply a contingent. I can only advise you to organizeyourselves into a militia, and to stand for the present on thedefensive. As soon as operations begin from Poverty Bay you will berelieved from all further danger, as the attention of the hostiletribes will be fully occupied in that direction."
Hitherto the province of Hawke Bay had been comparatively free from thetroubles that had so long disturbed Auckland, Taranaki, and the northernportion of Wellington. Only one rising had taken place, and this hadbeen so promptly crushed that the tribes had since remained perfectlyquiet. In October 1866 a party of a hundred fighting men had suddenlyappeared near the Meanee village. Their principal chief had hithertoborne a very high character, and had been employed by the government toimprove the mail road between Napier and Taupo. Colonel Whitmore, whowas in command of the colonial forces--for the regular troops had nowbeen almost entirely withdrawn from the island--had just returned frompunishing some natives who had committed massacres higher up on thecoast, and was, fortunately, at Napier; he at once despatched a companyof colonists under Major Fraser, with thirty or forty friendly natives,to hold the natives in check.
Just as they had been sent off the news came that another and morenumerous body of Hau-Haus were advancing by way of Petane to attackNapier. Major Fraser and his company were sent off to check these, whileColonel Whitmore, with one hundred and eighty of the colonial militia,marched against the smaller force, and M'Lean, with two hundred friendlynatives, established himself in the rear of the village they occupied.An officer was sent in to summon them to surrender, and as no answercould be obtained from them the colonists advanced. The enemy foughtwith resolution, but the colonists opened a cross-fire upon them, andafter fighting for some time the natives were driven out of their cover.Finding no mode of retreat open to them they laid down their arms, somewho endeavoured to escape being cut off and also captured. The nativeloss was twenty-three killed and twenty-eight wounded--many of themmortally; forty-four taken prisoners. Only two or three of the wholeparty escaped. Upon the same day Major Fraser's little force attackedthe other party of Hau-Haus, killed their chief with twelve of hisfollowers, and put the rest to flight.
From that time peace had been unbroken in Hawke Bay; but there had beenseveral outbreaks at Poverty Bay, which lay just north of the province,and massacres at Opotaki and other places further to the north, andalmost continuous fighting in the northern districts of Wellington. Thenews of Te Kooti's escape and of his landing at Poverty Bay naturallycaused considerable alarm among the settlers, but hopes were entertainedthat the whites at Poverty Bay, aided by the friendly natives, would beable to recapture Te Kooti and his followers before they could do anyharm.
The next day a small vessel came down from Poverty Bay with a messagefrom Major Biggs, who commanded at that settlement, to ask forassistance if it could be spared him. A consultation was held and it wasagreed that the best plan of defending their own settlement was to aidin the recapture of Te Kooti, and that the little force of twenty menshould at once go up to aid the settlers under Major Biggs. Accordinglythey embarked without delay, Mr. Atherton making a separate bargainwith the captain of the craft for his passage, and the next morning theyarrived in Poverty Bay.
Major Biggs had, as soon as the news reached him, raised a force of ahundred Europeans and natives. He found Te Kooti's party, a hundred andninety strong, holding a very strong position near the sea, and sent achief to them to say that if they would lay down their arms he would tryand smooth matters over with government. A defiant answer was returned,and Major Biggs gave orders to commence the attack. But the natives, whoformed the bulk of his force, refused to move, saying that the Hau-Hauswere too numerous and too strongly posted. Under these circumstances anattack was impossible, for had the little body of whites been defeatedthe whole settlement would have been open to ravage and destruction.
During the night Te Kooti and his men started for the interior, carryingwith them all the stores and provisions they had taken from theschooner. When it was found they had escaped Major Biggs ordered Mr.Skipwith to follow with some friendly natives, pressing on their rearuntil he ascertained their line of retreat, when he was to cut acrosscountry and join the main body who were to march to Paparatu, a pointwhich Te Kooti would in all probability pass in his retreat. The arrivalof the coaster with the little band from the Mohaka River was hailedwith joy by the Poverty Bay settlers. They arrived just in time to joinMajor Biggs, and raised his force to fifty white men, who, with thirtyMaoris, started for Paparatu and arrived there on the followingmorning. The Europeans were commanded by Captains Westrupp and Wilson.In the afternoon Mr. Atherton arrived with a party of four natives whomhe had hired to carry his store of provisions, ammunition, and baggage.
"So I am in plenty of time," he said when he came up. "I could not bringmyself to undertake a night march, but as those fellows have got to lugall the stores they have captured over the mountains I felt pretty surethat I should be in time."
"I am glad you are in time, Mr. Atherton," Wilfrid said. "The assistanceof your rifle is not to be despised. The sooner the natives come now thebetter, for we have only brought four days' provisions in ourhaversacks. I hear that a reserve force is to come up in two days withrations and ammunition; but one can never calculate upon these natives."
The camp was pitched in a hollow to avoid the observation of the enemy,but it was proposed to fight at a point a mile distant, in a positioncommanding the spur of the hill, up which the natives must advance aftercrossing a ford on the Arai River. Four days passed and there was nonews of the convoy with the provisions, and the supply in camp wasalmost exhausted. That evening Major Biggs started to bring up thesupplies with all speed, as otherwise starvation would compel the forceto retreat. The same day Mr. Skipwith had arrived with news that TeKooti was undoubtedly marching on Paparatu, but was making slow progressowing to the heavy loads his men were carrying.
The fifth day passed slowly. The men being altogether without food Mr.Atherton divided his small stock of provisions and wine among them, andthen taking his rifle went out among the hills, accompanied by two ofhis natives. Late in the evening he returned, the natives bearing an oldboar which he had shot. This was a great piece of luck, for the islandcontained no wild animals fit for eating, and the boar had probablyescaped from some settler's farm or native clearing when young and takento the woods. It was at once cut up and divided among the hungry men.The next day Mr. Skipwith, with two natives, went out to reconnoitre,and soon returned at full speed, saying that the natives were crossingthe river. Captain Wilson, with twenty men, took possession of a hill onthe right flank--an almost impregnable position, while Captain Westrupp,with the main body, marched to support the picket which had been placedon the position which it had been arranged they should occupy; butbefore they could arrive there Te Kooti, with overwhelming numbers, haddriven the picket from the ground and occupied the hill.
"This is going to be an awkward business, Wilfrid," Mr. Atherton said."We have only thirty rounds of ammunition a man, and we have had nothingto eat for the last forty-eight hours but a mouthful of meat. We havesuffered the natives to take the position we fixed on. We areoutnumbered three to one, and there are not ten men in
the force whohave had any experience in fighting. If the worst comes to the worst,Wilfrid, do you and the Allens take to the bush. Mind, it is no usetrying to run from the natives. If the men were all like our party theother day we could keep these fellows at bay for any time; but they aremost of them young hands. They will blaze away their ammunition, and maybe seized with a panic. I shall keep close to you, and if things do gobadly we will keep together and sell our lives dearly."
"We must retake that place if possible, lads," Captain Westrupp said atthat moment. "Spread out in skirmishing order and take advantage of anycover you can find, but let there be no stopping or lagging behind. Wemust all get up there together and carry it with a rush."
There was no time lost. The men spread out, and with a cheer started upthe hill. They were received with a storm of bullets; but the nativesfrom their eminence fired high, and without suffering loss they reacheda small ridge near the summit, about twelve yards from the enemy, andseparated from them by a narrow gully. Here they threw themselves down,and their fire at once caused the Hau-Haus to throw themselves downamong the bushes on their side of the gully. The position of thecolonists was a fairly strong one. On their right flank the ground wasopen, with a few scattered bushes here and there, but the left wascovered by a steep ravine, which fell away sharply. The Hau-Haus kept upa heavy fire, to which the colonists replied but seldom, their officercontinually impressing upon them the necessity for husbanding theirammunition. Mr. Atherton had arrived breathless in the rear of theparty, and had thrown himself down by Wilfrid's side, the two Allenslying next in order. For some minutes Mr. Atherton did not speak, butlay panting heavily.
"This is a nice preparation for shooting," he said presently. "However,I suppose my hand will steady itself after a bit. I have seen a fellow'shead show under that bush there twice, and each time his bullet camejust over our heads. I will have a talk with him as soon as I get mywind back again. This is not a bad position after all, providing theydon't work round to our right."
Ten minutes later Wilfrid, who had his eyes fixed on a bush from whichfour or five shots had been fired, waiting for another puff of smoke toindicate the exact position in which the man was lying, heard the sharpreport of Mr. Atherton's rifle.
"You have got him, I suppose?"
"Of course, lad; there is one less of the yelling rascals to deal with.I wish we could see Biggs and his people coming along the road behind.If we could get a square meal all round and a good supply of ammunitionI think we should be able to turn the tables on these fellows. The menare all fighting very steadily, and are husbanding their ammunitionbetter than I expected to see them do."
The fight went on for four hours. Then a number of the Hau-Haus leapt totheir feet and made a rush towards the settlers, but the volley theyreceived proved too much for them. Several fell, and the rest boltedback into shelter. Again and again this was tried, but each time withoutsuccess. At three in the afternoon some men were seen coming along theroad behind towards the deserted camp. Captain Westrupp at once wrote anote and sent it down by one of the men, but to the disappointment ofthe settlers he soon returned with the news that the new arrivalsconsisted of only nine Maoris carrying rations. They had opened the rumbottles on their way, and most of them were excessively drunk. Two ofthem who were sufficiently sober came up to help in the defence, but onewas shot dead almost immediately, one of the settlers being killed andmany wounded more or less severely.
Just as evening was coming on the force was startled by hearing aHau-Hau bugle in their rear, and presently made out a party of the enemymoving towards the camp through the broken ground on the left rear. Itwas now evident that either the enemy must be driven off the hill infront or the party must retire to a position on the hill behind thecamp. Captain Westrupp determined to try the former alternative first.Calling upon the men to follow him, he dashed across the gully and up onto the crest held by the Maoris. The men followed him gallantly; but thefire from the Maoris hidden among the bushes was so heavy that they wereforced to fall back again, seven more of their number being wounded.They now retired in good order down to the camp and up the hill behindit, and were here joined by Captain Wilson with his twenty men.
It was now determined to throw up a sort of intrenchment and hold thisposition until help came; but the settlers, who had hitherto foughtwell, were dispirited by their want of success, and by the non-arrivalof the reinforcement, and were weak with their long fast. As soon as itbecame dark they began to steal off and to make their way back towardstheir homes, and in an hour half the force had retreated. The officersheld a council. It was evident the position could not long be held, andthat want of food and ammunition would compel a retreat in the morning.It was therefore decided to fall back under cover of the darkness.
The chief of the friendly natives, who had behaved admirably through thefight, offered to guide the party across the country. The officers wereobliged to leave their horses, and the party of forty half-starved men,of whom a fourth were wounded--two so severely that it was necessary tocarry them--set out. It was a terrible march for the exhausted men, upthe bed of a mountain creek, often waist-deep in water, and over steepfern-covered hills, until, just as day was breaking, they reached anout-station. Here they managed to get two sheep, and just as they hadcooked and eaten these Colonel Whitmore, the commander of the colonialforces, arrived with thirty volunteers from Napier, who had reached thebay on the previous day.
He at once paraded the men, thanked them for their behaviour on theprevious day, and warned them to be ready to start in pursuit of theenemy at once. One of the settlers, acting as spokesman for the rest,stepped forward, pointed out that they had been fighting withoutintermission for twenty-four hours, that they had been for the lastforty-eight hours almost without food, and that it was impossible forthem to set out on a fresh march until they had taken some rest. ColonelWhitmore was a hot-tempered man, and expressed himself so strongly thathe caused deep offence among the settlers.
They remained firm in their determination not to move until thefollowing day, and the forward movement was therefore necessarilyabandoned. On the day previous to the fight Lieutenant Gascoigne hadbeen despatched by Major Biggs to Te Wairoa with despatches for Mr.Deighton, who commanded at that station, warning him to muster all theforce at his disposal, and prepare to intercept Te Kooti at the WaihauLakes in case he should fight his way through Captain Westrupp's force.Orders were sent to the friendly Mahia tribe to muster, and a hundredmen at once assembled; but as they had only four rounds of ammunitionapiece, nothing could be done until three casks of ammunition wereobtained from some of the Wairoa chiefs.
Two days were lost in consequence, and this gave time to Te Kooti; theythen started--eighteen European volunteers and eighty natives; a largerbody of natives preparing to follow as soon as possible. After being metby messengers with several contradictory orders, they arrived at Waihau,and just before dark Te Kooti was seen crossing the hills towards themwith his whole force. Captain Richardson determined to fight them in theposition he occupied, but the native chief, with sixty of his followers,at once bolted. Captain Richardson was therefore obliged with theremainder to fall back, and, unfortunately, in the retreat one of thenatives fell; his gun went off and, bursting, injured his hand. This wasconsidered by the natives a most unfortunate omen, and dissipated whatlittle courage remained in the Wairoa tribe.
At eleven o'clock next morning the enemy advanced and the action began;but the Wairoa chief, with fifty of his men, again bolted at the firstshot. Captain Richardson with the remainder held the position until fourin the afternoon, when the ammunition being almost exhausted, he retiredquietly. The force fell back to Wairoa, where it was reorganized andincreased to two hundred men. In the meantime Colonel Whitmore had beentoiling on over a terrible country in Te Kooti's rear, having with himin all about two hundred men, as he had been joined by Major Fraser withfifty of the No. 1 Division Armed Constabulary.
But when they arrived at the boundary of the Poverty Bay dis
trict thesettlers belonging to it, who had not recovered from their indignationat Colonel Whitmore's unfortunate remarks, refused to go further, sayingthat the militia regulations only obliged them to defend their owndistrict. Colonel Whitmore, therefore, with a hundred and thirty men, ofwhom but a handful were whites, marched on to attack two hundred andtwenty Hau-Haus posted in a very strong position in the gorge of ariver. Twelve of the little party from the Mohaka River still remainedwith the column, one had been killed, four wounded, while five hadremained behind completely knocked up by the fatigues they hadencountered.
Mr. Atherton had not gone on with them after the arrival of ColonelWhitmore. "It is of no use, my dear lad," he said to Wilfrid. "I knowColonel Whitmore well by reputation, and the way in which he blew us upthis morning because, exhausted as we were, we were physically unable toset out for a fresh march, confirms what I have heard of him. He is amost gallant officer, and is capable of undergoing the greatest fatigueand hardships, and is of opinion that everyone else is as tireless andenergetic as he is. He will drive you along over mountain, throughrivers, with food or without food, until you come up to Te Kooti, andthen he will fight, regardless of odds or position, or anything else. Itisn't the fighting I object to; but I never could keep up with thecolumn on such a march. It would be a physical impossibility, and I amnot going to attempt it. I shall take a week to recover from my fatiguesof last night, and shall go down and stay quietly at the settlement. IfTe Kooti takes it into his head to come down there, I shall have greatpleasure in doing my best towards putting a stop to his rampaging overthe country. If he does not come down I shall, as they say, awaitdevelopments, and shall find plenty to do in the way of botanizing."
Mr. Atherton had not exaggerated the fatigues and hardships that theforce would be called upon to undergo, and they were worn out andexhausted when at last they came upon the track of the Hau-Haus. Whenthey were resting for a short halt Captain Carr, late R.A., who was withthe force as a volunteer, reconnoitred a short distance ahead and foundthe enemy's fire still burning. The news infused fresh life into thetired and hungry men, and they again went forward. The track led up thebed of a river which ran between low, steep cliffs impossible to climb,and the men had to advance in single file. After marching for somedistance they reached a bend in the river, where a narrow track ranthrough a break in the cliff and up the spur of a hill. The advancedguard, consisting of six men, led by Captain Carr, were within fiftyyards of this point, when a heavy fire was opened upon them. Just wherethey were the river bank was sufficiently low to enable them to climb itand take cover in the thick scrub above, whence they replied vigorouslyto the Hau-Haus, who were within a few yards of them. In the meantimethe enemy had opened fire from the base of the hill at the river bendupon the main body, who, standing in single file in the river, wereunable to reply or to scale the steep bank and take covering in thescrub. Colonel Whitmore and Captain Tuke tried to lead the men up tocharge, but this could only be done in single file, and the fire of theenemy was so hot that those who attempted this were killed or wounded,Captain Tuke being severely hurt. The rest found what shelter they couldamong the boulders in the river bed, and remained here until theadvanced guard fell back, hard pressed by the enemy, and reported thedeath of Captain Carr and Mr. Canning, another volunteer.
The natives now pressed through the scrub above the cliffs to cut offthe retreat. The friendly natives, who were well behind, were ordered toscale the cliff then, and hold the enemy in check. One of them waswounded, and the rest hastily retreated down the river; the constabularyand settlers, altogether about fifty strong, fell back to an islandabout half a mile to the rear, and here calmly awaited the attack of theenemy. These, however, drew off without disturbing them, disheartened bythe fact that Te Kooti had received a wound in the foot, and the troopsthen retired. Only a few of the strongest men reached the camp thatnight; the rest, knocked up by want of food and fatigue, lay down inthe pouring rain and did not get in until the following morning.
The result of this fight was most unfortunate. Even Colonel Whitmore sawthat, with the force at his disposal, nothing could be done against TeKooti, who was daily becoming more powerful, and was being joined by thetribes in the vicinity. He believed that Te Kooti would carry out hisexpressed intention of marching north to Waikato, and after collectingthere all the tribes of the island, march against Auckland. Thinking,therefore, that Poverty Bay was not likely to be disturbed, he left thesettlement and went round by sea to Auckland to confer with governmentas to the steps to be taken to raise a force capable of coping with whatappeared to be the greatest danger that had as yet threatened theisland. Te Kooti did not, however, move north, but remained in his campnear the scene of the fight from the 8th of August to the 28th ofOctober, sending messages all over the island with the news of thedefeat he had inflicted upon the whites, and proclaiming himself thesaviour of the Maori people.
From the position he occupied, about equidistant from the settlements atWairoa and Poverty Bay, he was able to attack either by a sudden marchof two or three days, and yet there was no great uneasiness among thesettlers. The force that had operated against Te Kooti had beendisbanded, the Napier volunteers had returned, the constabularywithdrawn, and the party of settlers from the Mohaka river had returnedhome. Wilfrid Renshaw had not gone with them. He had been shot throughthe leg in the fight in the river, and had been carried down to thesettlement. Here Mr. Atherton, who was lodging in one of the settler'shouses, had taken charge of him and nursed him assiduously.
Unfortunately the effect of the wound was aggravated by the exhaustioncaused by fatigue and insufficient food, and for weeks the lad lay in astate of prostration, wasted by a low fever which at one time seemed asif it would carry him off. It was not until the middle of October thatmatters took a turn, and he began slowly to mend. For the last threeweeks his mother had been by his bedside. For some time Mr. Atherton inhis letters had made light of the wound, but when the lad's conditionbecame very serious he had written to Mrs. Renshaw saying that hethought she had better come herself to help in the nursing, as Wilfridwas now suffering from a sharp attack of fever brought on by hishardships.
Mrs. Renshaw, on her arrival, was dismayed at the state in which shefound her son. She agreed, however, that it was best not to alarm themin her letters home. The events on the attack of the settlement had muchshaken Mr. Renshaw, and he was, when she left him, in a nervous andexcited state. She saw that Wilfrid would need every moment of her time,and that were her husband to come it would probably do him harm andseriously interfere with her own usefulness. He was, when she left, onthe point of returning to the farm with Marion, as there had been nofurther renewal of troubles in the settlement.
It had been arranged that the two Allens should take up their residenceat The Glade, and that four men belonging to a small force that hadbeen raised among the friendly natives should also be stationed there.This would, it was thought, render it quite safe against sudden attack.Mr. Renshaw was looking eagerly forward to being at home again, and hiswife thought that the necessity of superintending the operations at thefarm would soothe his nerves and restore him to health. She, therefore,in her letters made the best of things, although admitting that Wilfridwas prostrated by a sort of low fever, and needed care and nursing.
At the end of another fortnight Wilfrid was enabled to sit up and takean interest in what was going on around him. The house was the propertyof a settler named Sampson, and had been erected by a predecessor of thefarmer; it was a good deal larger than he required, though its capacitywas now taxed to the utmost by the addition of three lodgers to hisfamily.
"How are things going on, Mr. Atherton?" Wilfrid asked one day when hismother was not present.
"People here seem to think that they are going on very well, Wilfrid."
"But you do not think so, Mr. Atherton?" the lad asked, struck by thedry tone in which the answer was given.
"No, Wilfrid, I cannot say I do. It seems to me that the people here areliving in a foo
l's paradise; and as for Major Biggs I regard him as anobstinate fool."
"How is that?" Wilfrid asked, amused at his friend's vehemence.
"Well, Wilfrid, as far as I can see there is nothing in the world toprevent Te Kooti coming down and cutting all our throats whenever hepleases."
"You don't say so, Mr. Atherton!"
"I do, indeed; it is known that he has sent messages down to the nativeshere to remain apparently loyal, get what arms they can from the whites,and prepare to join him. I will say for Biggs that he has repeatedlyrepresented the unprotected position of the bay to government, and hasobtained permission to place an officer and nine men on pay as scouts towatch the roads leading to the settlements. Gascoigne is in charge ofthem. There are two roads by which the natives can come; the one a shortone, and this is being watched, the other a much longer and moredifficult one, and this is entirely open to them if they choose to useit.
"The fact is, Biggs relies on the fact that Colonel Lambert is atWairoa, and is collecting a force of 600 men there to attack Te Kooti,and he believes that he shall get information from him and from somespies he has in the neighbourhood of Te Kooti's camp long before anymovement is actually made. Of course he may do so, but I consider it isa very risky thing to trust the safety of the whole settlement tochance. He ought to station four mounted men on both tracks as near ashe dare to Te Kooti's camp. In that case we should be sure to get newsin plenty of time to put all the able-bodied men under arms before theenemy could reach the settlement."
"Have they got a stockade built?"
"No, it was proposed at a meeting of some of the settlers that thisshould be done, but Biggs assured them it was altogether unnecessary. Ido not know how it is, Wilfrid, but take us all together we Englishmenhave fully a fair share of common sense. I have observed over and overagain that in the majority of cases when an Englishman reaches a certainrank in official life, he seems to become an obstinate blockhead. I haveoften wondered over it, but cannot account for it. Anyhow the state ofaffairs here is an excellent example of this. I suppose in the wholesettlement there is not, with the exception of the man in authority, asingle person who does not perceive that the situation is a dangerousone, and that no possible precaution should be omitted; and yet the manwho is responsible for the safety of all throws cold water on everyproposal, and snubs those who are willing to give up time and labour inorder to ensure the safety of the place.
"I suppose he considers that the tone he adopts shows him to be a mansuperior to those around him, possessing alike far greater knowledge ofthe situation, and a total freedom from the cowardly fears of hisneighbours. Well, well, I hope that events will justify his course, butI own that I sleep with my rifle and revolvers loaded and ready to hand.Mind, I do not say that the chances may not be ten to one against TeKooti's making a raid down here; but I say if they were a hundred to oneit would be the height of folly not to take every possible precaution toensure the safety of all here."
"Don't you think, Mr. Atherton, that it would be better for mother to gohome? I am getting all right now, and can get on very well withouther."
"I am sure your mother would not leave you at present, Wilfrid, and Idon't think you will be fit to be moved for another fortnight yet. TeKooti has done nothing for two months, and may not move for as muchmore. Your mother knows nothing of what I have told you, and I shouldnot make her anxious or uncomfortable by giving her even a hint that Iconsidered there is danger in the air."