I should shower on the foe, when a tremendous shout was
heard. It was "our mob" coming to the rescue; and, like heroes of old,
"sending their voice before them." In an instant both myself and the
gallant old tar were released; the enemy dashed on board their canoe,
and in another moment were off, darting away before a gale of wind and
a fair tide at a rate that put half a mile at least between them and us
before our protectors came up. "Load the gun!" cried the sailor--(there
was a nine-pound carronade on the cliff before the house, overlooking
the river). A cartridge was soon found, and a shot, and the gun loaded.
"Slew her a little," cried my now commander; "fetch a fire stick."
"Aye, aye, sir" (from self). "Wait a little; that will do--Fire!"--(in
a voice as if ordering the discharge of the whole broadside of a
three-decker). Bang! The elevation was perfectly correct. The shot
struck the water at exactly the right distance, and only a few feet to
one side. A very few feet more to the right and the shot would have
entered the stern of the canoe, and, as she was end on to us, would
have killed half the people in her. A miss, however, is as good as a
mile off. The canoe disappeared behind a point, and there we were with
an army of armed friends around us, who, by making great expedition,
had managed to come exactly in time to be too late.

This was a _taua muru_ (a robbing expedition) in revenge for the leader
having been cleaned out by our chief, which gave them the right to rob
any one connected with, related to, or under the protection of, our
chief aforesaid, provided always that they were able. We, on the other
hand, had the clear right to kill any of the robbers, which would then
have given them the right to kill us; but until we killed some of them,
it would not have been "correct" for them to have taken life, so they
managed the thing neatly, in order that they should have no occasion to
do so. The whole proceeding was unobjectionable in every respect, and
_tika_ (correct). Had we put in our nine-pound shot at the stern of
their canoe, it would have been correct also; but as we were not able,
we had no right whatever to complain.

The above is good law: and here I may as well inform the New Zealand
public that I am going to write the whole law of this land in a book,
which I shall call "_Ko nga ture_;" and as I intend it for the good of
both races, I shall mix the two languages up in such a way that neither
can