of the fleetest members of a Maori
tribe, throwing off his coat to do it, and proving the victor. 'I was
somewhere on the coast, with several of my officers and a number of Maori
chiefs, and there was a debate as to running. I ventured the statement
that I could, perhaps, beat the Maoris at a distance contest. They
selected their best man, a young chief, and I fancy it took me more than
half a mile to get away from him.'

Those civilities were very well in their place, but the Governor would
have dispensed with the nose rubbing of the native at his doorstep, so
anxious was he to learn the reason. There was news in the man's face, and
when he gathered words, it proved to be that of the Wanganui outbreak.

A spark there, had been the going off, by mishap, of a midshipmite's
pistol. The lad was toying with it, amusing himself and a Maori chief.
'Look here, old fellow!' he had exclaimed, and to his own amazement the
pistol went bang, hurting the chief in the face.

Extracting from his Maori mercury, every point of information he could
furnish, Sir George ordained silence upon him, lest uneasiness might be
caused among the people of Auckland. Then, on the plea of making a rapid
tour of the outposts of the Colony, he organised a move on Wanganui. He
went thither by sea, with a contingent of troops and a body-guard of
leading Maori chiefs.

'These,' Sir George smiled, 'had been vowing all sorts of handsome things
to me, and I took them at their word. I said to them that no better
opportunity could arise, enabling them to fulfil their promises. They
would be beside me, ready to send orders to their several tribes, should
the assistance of these be needed. I need hardly add, that nothing
untoward could happen in the localities which the chiefs denoted, while
they were absent with me. Generally, I went about with a group of them in
my train, as I preferred to have the possibilities of trouble with me.
They took kindly to travel, and they always behaved most admirably
towards me.'

As his vessel touched the Wanganui shore, a Maori was seen scouring along
it, in desperate haste. Behind, there raced a thread of enemies, Maoris
on the war-path, but the man plunged into the surf before they could
overtake him. Sir George imagined that here was another messenger, with
information from the little Wanganui garrison of British soldiers. It was
necessary he should hear tidings without a moment's delay, and he jumped
into the ship's b